We so desperately needed expertise on human social behaviour to beat Covid. Instead we used graphs. An…

We so desperately needed expertise on human social behaviour to beat Covid. Instead we used graphs. An example from this week. Person at work about to go OS on holiday for 2 weeks. Very excited. /1

Then a member of their team came to work, sick. You could see the immediate tension in the room. The fear that this might compromise the trip, if passed on. /2

‘I’ll KILL you if you make me sick!’ was the phrase, said jokingly but with real anxious bite too. So I offered them a mask. /3

They literally froze, for about 10 seconds. You could see the wheels turning, wrestling with the idea. ‘No, it’s fine, thanks.’ The thought of masking was more terrifying than wasting the thousands spent on the OS trip. /4

Social conformity is the most powerful of all forces known to humankind. The one rarely mentioned. Covid minimisers know it. They use it, relentlessly. /5

Most people affecting joy at taking no Covid precautions fear the virus deeply. But they dare not say it. They don’t want to go against the crowd. /6

All humans form teams, glued together by conformity. In everything they do. It’s what society is. It’s what makes these platforms rich. In network terms, teams are hubs. It’s the same pattern we see for viral spread. /7

Unsurprisingly. Because humans spread the virus. Viruses don’t go viral. Patterns of infection, including pandemics, are human social phenomena. To defeat them, you have to act socially, on humans. /end