Watch this. It's a social experiment called r/place, where each individual is allowed to place a pixel of a certain color on a gigantic board once every five minutes. What happens is possibly the most beautiful and complete microcosm demonstrating human collective behavior ever created. Plenty of people have talked about r/place in general terms.
I think, however, that this single moment is absolutely brimming with potential for real science. Through this April Fool's human experiment; and its logs, history, and stories; there is an untapped well of potential for actual constructive scientific study. I call upon any scientist who studies psychology in general and human interaction in particular to look at this masterpiece of a storybook and do some real science about it. Interview people, create statistical maps, time the ever-changing map with alliances and betrayals. Figure out something about the human condition that only this experiment could provide. If science takes this experiment seriously, and performs actual studies into its meaningfulness, then we could see some genuine knowledge about the human condition come out of it.
So have a crack at it, scientists. This is what you've been waiting for. And if you're reading this, get cracking on that science!
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