CMN 150V: Midterm questions
&answers 2025/2026
What is the difference between first and second part of the course? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔1st
looks at static snapshots of society
2nd looks at changing dynamics
What paradigm underlines "computational science"? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔the digital
revolution
In the late 1980s, how much of all technology stored info was digital and what percentage is it
now? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔less than 1% -> 99%
What does it mean that the amount of technologically stored info "doubles" every 2-3 years? -
CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔each 2-3 years, as much is added to what we have accumulated since
the very beginning
What more is being documented? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔social reality
Did the dna of all human cells store more or less info than digital tech in 2014? - CORRECT
ANSWER ✔✔less
What do evolutionary theorists say about the "Major transitions in evolutions"? - CORRECT
ANSWER ✔✔every time we (life) came up with a new way of processing info, a major transition
happened
,From this social evolutionary perspective, the digital and the biological are merged when... -
CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔society as a whole has become indispensably dependent on digital
technology
The Scientific Method - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔empirical(Darwin)
theoretical(Einstein)
analytical
The 1st wave of scientific advancements focused on... - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔a small number
of interrelated varaibles
T or F? Complexity is modeled with simple averages of small number of interacting variables. -
CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔False
Why is it limiting to study society with the dominant scientific methods from the 19th and 20th
century? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔societies contain more than 2-3 variables and are too
comfortable to be modelled with aggregate averages
When doing social science, we study what levels of abstraction? - CORRECT ANSWER
✔✔networks of people and their technology
How and in reference to what did he use the word "emergence"? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔at
each of these levels, new rules/laws "emerge" that can be studied
Who does the anteater(a bear like animal) communicate with in this metaphor? - CORRECT
ANSWER ✔✔an ant colony called "Aunt Hillary"
, What baffled philosophers like Kant and sociologists like Durkheim? - CORRECT ANSWER
✔✔how predictable social patterns emerge from a bunch of individual free will
What was a main distinction made by both economists like Smith and political scientists like
Rousseau? The distinction between: - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔the intention of the individual and
collective intentions of society
What did the eminent social scientist Karl Marx mean when he talked about what others called
the "basic metaphysical principle of dialectics"? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔more of
something(quantitative difference) can at some point create unexpected emergent
phenomena(qualitative changes)
All different kinds of social science disciplines are fundamentally interested in what? - CORRECT
ANSWER ✔✔how society emerges from individual parts
What was the main approach toward science adopted by Charles Darwin? - CORRECT ANSWER
✔✔he made empirical observations and from there developed ideas
What did Albert Einstein do in 1905 and 1915? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔he developed theory,
not based on empirical observations, but on ideas and 1st principles
How does this relate to the "very short history of science" of 3 consecutive waves that we had
reviewed? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔Einstein worked on a problem with few variables(E = mc^2)
and Darwin on one with average tendencies of many observations
What is the so-called "digital footprint" or "digital trace"? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔the digital
evidence you leave behind with a digital interaction
How do you approach science through induction? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔data->analyses-
>ideas
&answers 2025/2026
What is the difference between first and second part of the course? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔1st
looks at static snapshots of society
2nd looks at changing dynamics
What paradigm underlines "computational science"? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔the digital
revolution
In the late 1980s, how much of all technology stored info was digital and what percentage is it
now? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔less than 1% -> 99%
What does it mean that the amount of technologically stored info "doubles" every 2-3 years? -
CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔each 2-3 years, as much is added to what we have accumulated since
the very beginning
What more is being documented? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔social reality
Did the dna of all human cells store more or less info than digital tech in 2014? - CORRECT
ANSWER ✔✔less
What do evolutionary theorists say about the "Major transitions in evolutions"? - CORRECT
ANSWER ✔✔every time we (life) came up with a new way of processing info, a major transition
happened
,From this social evolutionary perspective, the digital and the biological are merged when... -
CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔society as a whole has become indispensably dependent on digital
technology
The Scientific Method - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔empirical(Darwin)
theoretical(Einstein)
analytical
The 1st wave of scientific advancements focused on... - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔a small number
of interrelated varaibles
T or F? Complexity is modeled with simple averages of small number of interacting variables. -
CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔False
Why is it limiting to study society with the dominant scientific methods from the 19th and 20th
century? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔societies contain more than 2-3 variables and are too
comfortable to be modelled with aggregate averages
When doing social science, we study what levels of abstraction? - CORRECT ANSWER
✔✔networks of people and their technology
How and in reference to what did he use the word "emergence"? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔at
each of these levels, new rules/laws "emerge" that can be studied
Who does the anteater(a bear like animal) communicate with in this metaphor? - CORRECT
ANSWER ✔✔an ant colony called "Aunt Hillary"
, What baffled philosophers like Kant and sociologists like Durkheim? - CORRECT ANSWER
✔✔how predictable social patterns emerge from a bunch of individual free will
What was a main distinction made by both economists like Smith and political scientists like
Rousseau? The distinction between: - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔the intention of the individual and
collective intentions of society
What did the eminent social scientist Karl Marx mean when he talked about what others called
the "basic metaphysical principle of dialectics"? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔more of
something(quantitative difference) can at some point create unexpected emergent
phenomena(qualitative changes)
All different kinds of social science disciplines are fundamentally interested in what? - CORRECT
ANSWER ✔✔how society emerges from individual parts
What was the main approach toward science adopted by Charles Darwin? - CORRECT ANSWER
✔✔he made empirical observations and from there developed ideas
What did Albert Einstein do in 1905 and 1915? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔he developed theory,
not based on empirical observations, but on ideas and 1st principles
How does this relate to the "very short history of science" of 3 consecutive waves that we had
reviewed? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔Einstein worked on a problem with few variables(E = mc^2)
and Darwin on one with average tendencies of many observations
What is the so-called "digital footprint" or "digital trace"? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔the digital
evidence you leave behind with a digital interaction
How do you approach science through induction? - CORRECT ANSWER ✔✔data->analyses-
>ideas
