The basic idea is that there are regions where events are tightly coupled by cause and effect relationships, and regions where events are loosely coupled, or not coupled by cause and effect at all.
One example is in cosmology. Due to the expansion of space, there are regions of our universe that are receding from each other faster than light can cross the distance. Not even a photon from one region can cause an effect in the other region.
I think there are examples in sociology, too.
Whenever we get a story about a sportscaster being bigoted on a hot mic, or a schoolteacher being racist in the classroom, I wonder, "how did they not know to just keep their mouth shut?"
I think the answer is, they're used to occupying a relatively hermetic causal domain in society. They're usually surrounded by people who produce a particular cause-and-effect phenomenon in response to their jokes, asides, opinions, etc. They end up taking this causal domain for granted, and forget that there are other domains with other cause and effect relationships that might be different from what they're used to.
One example that gets bandied about (by me, if no one else) is the hypothesis that Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" line played well to friends in more intimate and private settings such as fundraisers and at campaign HQ. Neither her nor her team realized until too late that it would play a lot worse in to a more general audience.
Causal domain shear.
Same thing with that sportscaster on the hot mic. I think the best explanation for such a lapse of discipline is that he was used to one causal domain for his bigotry, and forgot about the risk of his mic coupling him to another causal domain. Same thing with the Catholic schoolteacher or whoever who, with the kneeling and whatnot.
I think we also see this in social media - a sort of "space contraction" phenomenon. Historically, stupid stuff you said as a teenager would recede in time from the present day. Eventually it would loose all causal coupling with your current relationships and reputation. Instead, we see the opposite happening. It's trivially easy to reach back in time to someone's tweets from five or ten years ago, and make a cause-and-effect link to from there to the person's current domain.
In summary: I think social causal domains are a thing, and I think we're often not aware of the domains we're in or the degree to which they're actually coupled. If we spend a lot of time in one domain, getting a particular kind of feedback, it can cause social disconnects - shear - when we move into another domain where there's a different effect from the same cause.
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*I got the term from Neal Stephenson's novel Anathem. I don't know if it or the concept have prior art anywhere.
One example is in cosmology. Due to the expansion of space, there are regions of our universe that are receding from each other faster than light can cross the distance. Not even a photon from one region can cause an effect in the other region.
I think there are examples in sociology, too.
Whenever we get a story about a sportscaster being bigoted on a hot mic, or a schoolteacher being racist in the classroom, I wonder, "how did they not know to just keep their mouth shut?"
I think the answer is, they're used to occupying a relatively hermetic causal domain in society. They're usually surrounded by people who produce a particular cause-and-effect phenomenon in response to their jokes, asides, opinions, etc. They end up taking this causal domain for granted, and forget that there are other domains with other cause and effect relationships that might be different from what they're used to.
One example that gets bandied about (by me, if no one else) is the hypothesis that Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" line played well to friends in more intimate and private settings such as fundraisers and at campaign HQ. Neither her nor her team realized until too late that it would play a lot worse in to a more general audience.
Causal domain shear.
Same thing with that sportscaster on the hot mic. I think the best explanation for such a lapse of discipline is that he was used to one causal domain for his bigotry, and forgot about the risk of his mic coupling him to another causal domain. Same thing with the Catholic schoolteacher or whoever who, with the kneeling and whatnot.
I think we also see this in social media - a sort of "space contraction" phenomenon. Historically, stupid stuff you said as a teenager would recede in time from the present day. Eventually it would loose all causal coupling with your current relationships and reputation. Instead, we see the opposite happening. It's trivially easy to reach back in time to someone's tweets from five or ten years ago, and make a cause-and-effect link to from there to the person's current domain.
In summary: I think social causal domains are a thing, and I think we're often not aware of the domains we're in or the degree to which they're actually coupled. If we spend a lot of time in one domain, getting a particular kind of feedback, it can cause social disconnects - shear - when we move into another domain where there's a different effect from the same cause.
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*I got the term from Neal Stephenson's novel Anathem. I don't know if it or the concept have prior art anywhere.
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