Dear all,

We will have our next LIRa session tomorrow. We will use our recurring zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/92907704256?pwd=anY3WkFmQVhLZGhjT2JXMlhjQVl1dz09 (Meeting ID: 929 0770 4256, Passcode: 036024). You can find the details of the talk below.

Speaker: Patricia Rich

Date and Time: Thursday, April 22nd 2021, 16:30-18:00, Amsterdam time.

Venue: online.

Title: Hidden Costs of Epistemic Conformity: Lessons from Information Cascade Simulations.

Abstract. Information cascades are troubling and well-studied because apparently individually-rational responses to evidence can lead entire communities to conform (participate in cascades), and hence to converge on the wrong answer. Yet existing theory cannot explain why a robust, substantial minority of people in experimental studies do not conform. Groups achieve improved reliability thanks to these non-conformists. I use simulations to study cascade problems in an evolutionary setting. The results show that although conforming maximizes expected fitness, non-conformists can persist and often flourish in the population. The reason is that by its nature, conformity carries an evolutionary cost.

Hope to see you there!

The LIRa team