The theory of networks is broad in its inspiration and far-reaching in its application. Its origins as a distinct field of study date to at least 1735, when Leonard Euler came up with his famous solution to the “Bridges of Konigsberg” problem.
In Konigsberg, even bridges were built so that the people of the city could get from one part to another. The people wondered whether or not one could walk around the city in a way that would involve crossing each bridge exactly once. Euler devised a solution by thinking of the city topology in terms of “vertices” and “arcs” – what we now refer to as “nodes” and “edges”.
From that point on, it was only a matter of time until history arrived at The Internet. The internet, albeit virtual, is nevertheless composed of discreet packets traversing network space trying to find optimals paths towards their destinations.
Predicted by some and denied by others, the internet neverthess pervades contemporary life. The realization of the network’s apparent omnipresence leads some to make that same illusory presence more explicit and quantifiable. There are a plethora of artistic interpretations of network ubiquity – hand-crafted sculptures that blink in the presence of a wi-fi transmission, packet sniffers as web art that expose your apparent vulnerability over a network.
The network seems to be on a trajectory to eclipse the computer as the dominant paradigm of the day. Physicists are viewing particle interactions as complex webs of interlinked nodes. Sociologists see population dynamics as resulting from linkages between individuals. Economists are seeing market trends as resulting from independently acting nodes with networks of shared interests. Cognitive scientists think in terms of inter-connected layers of mental processes.
One thing these new paradigms have in common is their tendency to view network topologies and behaviors as resulting from the summation of actions or behaviors on the level of individual nodes. The Sante Fe Institute, in the late 80′s, became the focal point for integrating the disparate research in these “agent-based” complex adaptive systems.
Technology now has the power to bring the concept of autonomous and independently-acting nodes in a network to the fine line between virtual and real. Anything and everything can be wired to data networks. The variuos forms of radio – wifi, satellite, cellular, and optics – lasters, fiberoptics, blinking LEDs, all tend towards a future in which the data network is seemlessly integrated into our daily physical lives.
It remains one of the fundamental flaws in many current designs for this virtual-vs.-real blend that they ignore the ad-hoc networking capabilities of the nodes in this “convergence”. As nodes become more independent, and our understanding of the macrobehavior resulting from micromotives gets clearer, the necessity of a top-down model will disappear into the ether. The vestiges of the last generation of networking devices (all kinds of wires and centralized network topologies) will disappear, and we will see truly convergent media coming our way.