“Our work finds that simple, intrinsic density dependence can induce complex invasion behavior.”* Those are the words of Dr. Lauren Sullivan, who with Dr. Allison Shaw, another University of Minnesota environmental researcher, studies how species, both animal and plant, expand their ranges. Dr. Sullivan lays the background for her studies: “Most theory predicts invasions occur at a constant speed, or that more complex factors like predator-prey dynamics or environmental heterogeneity cause the speed of invasions to fluctuate.”
Now trolls. Not the ones that hide under bridges that billygoats have to cross. But internet trolls, those who seem to have little purpose other than to incite anger through brief messages that are inflammatory or irrelevant: This relatively new species has proliferated and increased its range to cover most of the planet. And no amount of honest predation can quash their expansion. There’s an intrinsic density dependence that induces the invasion behavior.
In a way, their presence on the Web reminds me of another kind of network, one that was the subject of an unfinished trilogy by Frank Norris. The Pit, the second novel, focused on wheat speculation in the Chicago Board of Trade. Fed into Chicago along the arms of The Octopus (the first novel) of train tracks stretching outward from the city all the way to California, the wheat essentially “invades” the market. It keeps coming; its “density” makes it too overwhelming for control. The main character in The Pit, trying to control the market, cannot succeed. There’s just too much, and it keeps “invading.”
The trolls are like that. Their density makes their effect a bit overwhelming for any individual. Get control of one, lose control over the others. The Web’s train tracks are lined with trains carrying them into the “city” from—and outward to—the entire interconnected world. Dealing with one troll at a time, or even with a train of trolls coming in from one direction, takes so much energy that other trains of trolls arrive. Their density is the reason for their success, for their ability to extend their range, for their invasion.
Pulling the plug is the only control. But since most of us cannot leave the Network because of our emotional ties, our addiction, pulling the plug isn’t a practical option. We’re like Chicago, the hub of a network. The multiple train tracks and highways that approach the “city” make us an octopus along whose tentacles invaders approach in numbers too large to control.
The only place safe from the invasion is offline. If you intend to remain where the tracks converge, don’t allow the ineluctable inflow of invaders to disturb you or rob you of your energy.
* https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/species-spread-spurts-and-heres-why
Now trolls. Not the ones that hide under bridges that billygoats have to cross. But internet trolls, those who seem to have little purpose other than to incite anger through brief messages that are inflammatory or irrelevant: This relatively new species has proliferated and increased its range to cover most of the planet. And no amount of honest predation can quash their expansion. There’s an intrinsic density dependence that induces the invasion behavior.
In a way, their presence on the Web reminds me of another kind of network, one that was the subject of an unfinished trilogy by Frank Norris. The Pit, the second novel, focused on wheat speculation in the Chicago Board of Trade. Fed into Chicago along the arms of The Octopus (the first novel) of train tracks stretching outward from the city all the way to California, the wheat essentially “invades” the market. It keeps coming; its “density” makes it too overwhelming for control. The main character in The Pit, trying to control the market, cannot succeed. There’s just too much, and it keeps “invading.”
The trolls are like that. Their density makes their effect a bit overwhelming for any individual. Get control of one, lose control over the others. The Web’s train tracks are lined with trains carrying them into the “city” from—and outward to—the entire interconnected world. Dealing with one troll at a time, or even with a train of trolls coming in from one direction, takes so much energy that other trains of trolls arrive. Their density is the reason for their success, for their ability to extend their range, for their invasion.
Pulling the plug is the only control. But since most of us cannot leave the Network because of our emotional ties, our addiction, pulling the plug isn’t a practical option. We’re like Chicago, the hub of a network. The multiple train tracks and highways that approach the “city” make us an octopus along whose tentacles invaders approach in numbers too large to control.
The only place safe from the invasion is offline. If you intend to remain where the tracks converge, don’t allow the ineluctable inflow of invaders to disturb you or rob you of your energy.
* https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/species-spread-spurts-and-heres-why
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