Prof. Duncan Watts studies the science of networks at Columbia under a grant from the National Science Foundation. By training a sociologist who started with the "Six Degress of Separation" theory of social networks, Watts' multi-disciplinary studies extend into economic and scientific systems. At Columbia's website, Watts is quoted: "The study of social networks has a 50-year history, but the statistical analysis of large social and economic networks is only just becoming feasible," said Watts. "Furthermore, the relationship between a system's interaction structure and its functions globally has been largely overlooked both by economics and sociology." In February, he wrote a piece for The Chronicle of Higher Education Unraveling the Mysteries of the Connected Age. The article is based upon his book published this year, Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. The article's final paragraph includes this: "the science of networks teaches us a third lesson: that such systems, from power grids to businesses, and even entire economies, are both more vulnerable and more robust than populations of isolated entities. Networks share resources and distribute loads, but they also spread disease and transmit failure -- they are both good and bad. But unless we can understand exactly how connected systems are connected, we cannot predict how they will behave."
Posted by dougsimpson at August 18, 2003 10:33 AM | TrackBack