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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.00329 |
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| _version_ | 1866908719631040512 |
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| author | Makrehchi, Masoud |
| author_facet | Makrehchi, Masoud |
| contents | Much ethical evaluation treats actions dyadically: one agent acts on one recipient. In networked, platform-mediated environments, this lens misses how public acts diffuse. We introduce a minimal message-passing model in which an initiating act with baseline valence w spreads across a social graph with exposure b, per-hop salience $alpha$, compliance $q$, and depth (horizon) d. The model yields a closed-form \emph{network multiplier} relative to the dyadic baseline and identifies a threshold at r=b.alpha.q=1 separating subcritical (saturating), critical (linear), and supercritical (geometric) regimes. We show how common platform design levers -- reach and fan-out (affecting b), ranking and context (affecting alpha), share mechanics and friction (affecting q), and time-bounds (affecting d) -- systematically change expected downstream responsibility Applications include pandemic mitigation and vaccination externalities, as well as platform amplification of prosocial and harmful norms. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_00329 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | When Small Acts Scale: Ethical Thresholds in Network Diffusion Makrehchi, Masoud Social and Information Networks Much ethical evaluation treats actions dyadically: one agent acts on one recipient. In networked, platform-mediated environments, this lens misses how public acts diffuse. We introduce a minimal message-passing model in which an initiating act with baseline valence w spreads across a social graph with exposure b, per-hop salience $alpha$, compliance $q$, and depth (horizon) d. The model yields a closed-form \emph{network multiplier} relative to the dyadic baseline and identifies a threshold at r=b.alpha.q=1 separating subcritical (saturating), critical (linear), and supercritical (geometric) regimes. We show how common platform design levers -- reach and fan-out (affecting b), ranking and context (affecting alpha), share mechanics and friction (affecting q), and time-bounds (affecting d) -- systematically change expected downstream responsibility Applications include pandemic mitigation and vaccination externalities, as well as platform amplification of prosocial and harmful norms. |
| title | When Small Acts Scale: Ethical Thresholds in Network Diffusion |
| topic | Social and Information Networks |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.00329 |