The
discussion on the blogosphere (‘do links subvert hierarchies’, summarized over at Burningbird) reminds me of the social behaviour of the African cichlid fish.
These fish are particularly of interest for science because they are the most spectacular example of adaptive radiation: it’s a group of species that have rapidly speciated and adapted to distinct (ecological) niches. There’s a number of reasons why these fish have speciated so fast, but the most interesting one is their sexual habits: like any other species, dominant males get the girls. However, within seconds of beating other males, the victors sport bright yellow or blue stripes, thanks to chameleon-like cells. Competitors automatically revert back to ‘dull’ and almost ‘female-like’ colours, pushing them back on the ‘hierarchy’ ladder. So what’s the deal with blogging?
Recently, research pointed out that changing habitats literally disrupts the fish’ social hierarchy, causing male cichlids to challenge the ‘top guy’ more often, consequently starting a cascade of other (profound) physical changes. To truly subvert ‘hierarchies’, maybe we should stop linking to ‘self-proclaimed’ top bloggers.