Meet the Physicist Predicting When Online Hate Will Turn to Real-World Violence

The same principles that govern jostling molecules might also apply to groups of humans.

By Steve Nadis
Feb 10, 2020 5:30 PMApr 12, 2020 8:44 PM
disco1
(Credit: Vadven/shutterstock)

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news
 

About a half-mile from the White House, a presentation on online extremism is taking place at George Washington University (GW). The precise setting, however, is unusual: The event is in the physics building, rather than one of the political science halls across the street, and the discussion is being led by a fast-talking and personable British physicist. 

Neil Johnson starts things off in unorthodox fashion, placing some props in the middle of a conference table: a snack-size Ziploc bag filled with multicolored paperclips and a cylindrical container holding 100 Chinese “fortune sticks.” 

After a brief introduction, Johnson pulls open the bag and begins spreading the paperclips — different colors to represent different people, he says — randomly across the tabletop. He then assembles the clips into small linked clusters, which grow or shrink, sometimes splitting off and merging with other clusters. His hands move quickly, rearranging the clips as deftly as a three-card monte dealer manipulates his cards. 

For Johnson, the changing affiliations of the paperclips mimic what happens when, say, 100 people arrive separately at a social gathering and gradually mingle. “One minute you’re in a group of three; then it’s four, five or nine until some people break off and join another group,” Johnson says. But while it may seem random which and how many clips — or socialites — become linked together, he’s become adept at spotting the underlying patterns. And when it’s people clustering up, those patterns could have dangerous consequences, depending on the shared interests that hold the assemblage together. 

Over the past half-dozen years, Johnson’s unconventional research has taken him online, studying groups not of paperclips or partygoers but of hatemongers and would-be terrorists. His conclusions suggest that rather than monitoring the behavior of individuals, hoping to pick out a few “bad apples” before they resort to violence, law enforcement officers would reap greater rewards by concentrating on the groups to which these people belong. 

0 free articles left
Want More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

0 free articlesSubscribe
Discover Magazine Logo
Want more?

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

Stay Curious

Sign up for our weekly newsletter and unlock one more article for free.

 

View our Privacy Policy


Want more?
Keep reading for as low as $1.99!


Log In or Register

Already a subscriber?
Find my Subscription

More From Discover
Recommendations From Our Store
Shop Now
Stay Curious
Join
Our List

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

 
Subscribe
To The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Copyright © 2024 Kalmbach Media Co.