Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age
Posted: 2003-08-25 10:27pm
I Will Dress My Links
I borrowed this book a few weeks ago and, coincidently, read it just as the power grid over eastern north america was going to pieces. One of the first chapters has a reference to the blackout of 1977, and then uses it as an example of the interdependency of modern culture. It uses, among other things, references to Asimove books, economic crises (such as the Dutch Tulip debacle of the 1630s), the spread of viruses, both computer and otherwise, Kevin Bacon, and of course the Internet. Like the title says, the basic premise is that everyone on the planet knows each other through six people or less - "six degrees of seperation". Far more than just a simple allusion to Chaos Theory, it goes into mathematical detail that baffled me (the author's mentor is a mathmatician by trade), but should be right up the alley of some of you. I can't say I grasped it all, but it's certainly a worthy read.
I borrowed this book a few weeks ago and, coincidently, read it just as the power grid over eastern north america was going to pieces. One of the first chapters has a reference to the blackout of 1977, and then uses it as an example of the interdependency of modern culture. It uses, among other things, references to Asimove books, economic crises (such as the Dutch Tulip debacle of the 1630s), the spread of viruses, both computer and otherwise, Kevin Bacon, and of course the Internet. Like the title says, the basic premise is that everyone on the planet knows each other through six people or less - "six degrees of seperation". Far more than just a simple allusion to Chaos Theory, it goes into mathematical detail that baffled me (the author's mentor is a mathmatician by trade), but should be right up the alley of some of you. I can't say I grasped it all, but it's certainly a worthy read.