What Does Godwin’s Law Mean?
Godwin’s Law asserts that the probability of Hitler or Nazi references in conversation grows according to the length of a dialogue or debate. This sort of social rule theory can be part of an analysis of new technology venues for discussion, such as messaging platforms, forums and other digital spaces.
Techopedia Explains Godwin’s Law
Godwin’s Law is attributed to an American lawyer named Mike Godwin, who first stated the “law” in 1990. It originally referred to USENET newsgroup discussions, but it can now be applied to any type of chat or forum setup, or any other kind of collaborative conversation. It has often been applied to the cable news cycle, where top-level issues tend to be dissected at length to fill broadcasting time. Though it is really tongue-in-cheek in some ways, Godwin’s Law can be seen as a kind of theoretical marker for phenomena that might occur in AI that mimics human thought and discussion.
