Why Do We Vote the Way We Do?

Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good

When Santa Fe Institute Professor Mirta Galesic was a teenager, her country fell apart.

She lived in what was then Yugoslavia. But after the death of president for life Josip Broz Tito, that country was riven by ethnic nationalism.

Amidst all the competing claims and rumors spawned by the turmoil, young Mirta was struck by a realization: people would believe whatever supported their group. It influenced the course of her life as a scientist.

Mirta and several co-authors have just published the results of a study that finds, among other things, that if you want to know how people will vote in an upcoming election, you may want to ask their friends. And as you'll hear in this interview with host Spencer Critchley, complex social systems — offline and online — may explain a lot about the surprise election of Donald Trump, hyper-partisanship, media echo chambers, and many other aspects of the current state of democracy.

Find the full show notes, with links, at dastardlycleverness.com/why-we-vote.