An American Swarm

Due to networked tribal politics, a close election could trigger a swarm that will seek to dictate the outcome. Let's dig in.

The first US national election dominated by networked tribalism is nearing its end. Let’s recap what happened.

• The entire election campaign has been focused on detailing the threat posed by the opposing network tribe (every threat has a core constituency; the more threats that can be cobbled together, the bigger the tribe). Any discussion of substantive issues has been shelved, buried, or ignored.

• As the campaign progressed, tribal claims on the degree and immediacy of the threat posed by the enemy tribe intensified to drive mobilization at the polls.

• Increasingly, both tribes claim this election will be the last (an existential threat) if the other networked tribe wins.

NOTE: I’ll write a report on the role of superempowered individuals (like Musk, Bezos, Cuban, and others) in tribal politics next.

Setting the Stage

So far, despite two assassination attempts, the campaign has been relatively peaceful. That’s unlikely to last. Here’s why;

• Based on available information, the election is shaping up (based on available information) to be close, with the country evenly divided between the tribes.

• The voting system is slow, cumbersome, and full of flaws. Combined with a tight race and inevitable legal challenges, it’s possible that we won’t know the winner for a week or more.

• With both tribes framing this election as existential, the networked tribe losing the election will contest it. In most cases, any attempt to challenge or overturn the election results will fail.

Unfortunately, there is a method by which a ‘losing’ networked tribe could successfully contest or overturn the election. They could swarm it.

How Swarms Work

To understand how swarms can successfully overturn an election, let’s dig into the way swarms work. Swarms draw on critical elements developed in earlier forms of networked warfare and politics.