Shannon Clark on Thu, 20 Apr 2006 00:36:05 +0200 (CEST) |
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RE: <nettime> Network, Swarm, Microstructure |
A "network" as is being discussed can also be an element within otherwise hierarchal systems (and indeed as I wrote before you can think of hierarchies as themselves being just one type of network structure) but for this discussion consider the following. - network relationships can (and indeed usually are) just ONE of the relationships that people (or organizations) are a part of. In other aspects of their life/business they may be in a more ordered relationship. - the US military (and many other militaries I'm sure) is looking deeply at what they term "network centric warfare" - this is not just how to deal with an enemy that is organized loosely as a network, it is also a rethinking of many, perhaps most aspects of how the military works - especially in the battlefield - to function more like a network than a hierarchy. But it is important to recognize that this is all within a framework of a hierarchy. See http://www.mors.org/publications/phalanx/dec00/feature.htm (John Gartska the author of this article spoke at MeshForum 2005 - I'll try to get his audio up online if I can) Some of the most complex areas of research today into Networks is looking at how different networks (and even different types of networks) interrelate and interact. The markets example mentioned below is just one example, others are the interrelations of transportation systems and communications networks, or of people within organizations (which might be "networks" or structured as hierarchies) with other organizations such as cities, states, countries, political parties, religions in which they may also participate but which may have dramatically different structures. Internet protocols function not because of military might but because the providers of the underlying tools have all agreed to build on top of a set of tools. The Internet, which is different than Internet Protocols, functions because a few set of key authorities are agreed to by many (ICANN, the main "root" dns servers, the underlying routing and DNS protocols). These are a mix of public and private effort. The pipes which much of the traffic now goes through are likewise a mix of public and private work - microwaves, fiber, cable, and some satellites. In terms of the question "could a 'network' take over the functions of a state"? I think it would be important to be very clear what you mean by a "network" and to consider how (and if) you account changes in structures over time. i.e. if by "network" you mean a structure where connections are diffuse, where there is no single node through which information/power has to flow - then no, such as system probably does not match up with the requirements of running a state of nearly any significant size - i.e. a system where at some point the cost of interactions between the nodes is vastly higher than the value of the decisions that need to be made, so they have to able to be implemented quickly by some "authority" But it also is a matter of much interpretation - if you think about current states - in many respects they are better represented by complex networks than by "simple" hierarchies - think about terms such as "spheres of influence" often used to describe the people in a given government. Or consider then multiplicity of authority in the US Government - the at least theoretical checks and balances between the parts of government and the many groups of people behind each part of the government (the cabinet of a President, their staff, the political parties). It is certainly very possible to look at network maps of all of these various people - to look at the formal and informal ties between them (family ties, financial ties, reporting authorities under the law, committees that they serve together on, the states they represent etc) and to from that build up a very complex web that shows how everyone is interconnected. Very likely such a map or better yet series of maps over time would also show differences between the theory (how the formal structures are laid out) and the practice, it likely would also show how there are a variety of types of ties and links between people - deciding what (and if) to represent would result in very different diagrams. These intersections could be highly revealing. (for example in the US government you could look at mapping out formal ties to political parties - for most politicians this would be easy, for many of the people who serve under them via political appointments it would also be relatively easy, but for many public officials and some people such as some Judges, this might be much trickier) And the resulting map might need to be supplemented with other overlays - such as geographical ties, religious ties, voting patterns, common service/employment/school ties - all of which might show other groupings and structures - even across "party" lines. The point is that networks are both vital and very complex - it is an overloaded term - with too many meanings. That is also precisely my own interest in the area - this multiplicity of meanings and perspectives, the bringing together of people across very different backgrounds is an area of thought that is vital to many different fields - from politics to economics to technology - and each field that thinks about and works with (and within) networks can and does offer unique insights and perspectives. Shannon # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net