Nice animated interactive explanation of how torrents behave. Skip the screenshot; go and explore the source below!
Source You play with it by adding/deleting a peer. You can hack the original processing-programm (object orriented java) as well…
… A pitty that torrent files are quite robust (content and size), instead of ever changing content of dialogues and interaction within a group… where new rules (aka new content) leads to new behavior.
Let’s compare (yes, wild comparison) this torrent model with live group information exchange. Every peer would create his/her own interpretation of the original content and likely try to contaminate or enrich the original content:
[?] Will content ever be synced over all nodes?
[?] What criteria would influence convergence of information (aka a shared perspective)?
[?] Which distribution of content is needed to let enough peers agree: ‘ok, let’s do this’?
All torrents roughly behave alike.
[?] But what if some peers would apply tit-for-tat, other peers would apply direct reciprocity and some of those peers would also have to agree with their organisational backbone (kin selection), before concluding the value of information? Or, in collaboration, don’t people usually mix types of reciprocity.
[?] Can types of reciprocity be seen as one (ore a mixed set of) attribute(s) of a relation?
