CMN 150V: Midterm #1 Exam Questions
and Answers Graded A+
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
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,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
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
,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
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
, 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
Loosely speaking, what term can you use to explain what a hypothesis is? - Correct
answer-a directed bet
Deduction: - Correct answer-theory->data
The method that Albert Einstein spearheaded in the work on relativity by going
from mathematical theories over hypothesis toward observable phenomena is
called: - Correct answer-deduction
The unconventional name of 'glass of red wine theorizing' is used here to
characterize a very common way to deduce hypothesis in the social sciences.
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4
and Answers Graded A+
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
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1
,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
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
,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
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
, 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
Loosely speaking, what term can you use to explain what a hypothesis is? - Correct
answer-a directed bet
Deduction: - Correct answer-theory->data
The method that Albert Einstein spearheaded in the work on relativity by going
from mathematical theories over hypothesis toward observable phenomena is
called: - Correct answer-deduction
The unconventional name of 'glass of red wine theorizing' is used here to
characterize a very common way to deduce hypothesis in the social sciences.
©COPYRIGHT 2025, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4
