[ubuntu-uk] [marketing] Tipping Point conditions analysed

[Colin Law]

On 8 January 2012 20:17, Colin Law <clanlaw at googlemail.com> wrote:
> On 8 January 2012 20:04, alan c <aeclist at candt.waitrose.com> wrote:
>> 'Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when
>> just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their
>> belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society'
>> http://t.co/01KnwpPT
>
> That cannot possibly "always" be true, as the article claims.  Imagine
> a society where 11% hold an unshakeable belief in religion A and
> another 11% hold an unshakeable belief in religion B.  Then if the
> article is correct both religions will be adopted by the majority of
> the society which is patently not going to happen.

Even sillier, a quote from the article: "When the number of committed
opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in
the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time
comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the
majority,".  How then does the number of committed opinion holders
ever get to 10% in the first place, as apparently it will take the age
of the universe to get from say 5% to a majority, but only a short
time to get from 10% to a majority.  The corollary is that it will
take the age of the universe to get from 5% to 10%.

Colin

>
> Colin



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