How networks can take many forms and functions?
Networks can take many forms and functions because, networks are complex systems. Networks can be made into different iterations because it’s so vast and can be compared in any aspect. Networks, as a whole, is revolved around society in the sense of architecture and economics, in Networks: The Science-Spanning Disciplines by Anna Nagurney, she explains that network tools that can be used to solve all other types of problems that can have a network infrastructure. She speaks on how railroad, energy, water and many more types of networks correspond in some way, but can also differ in the way they operate. Science plays a big role in the application of these networks, “Some networks you can control the flows for instance the freight networks tell trains this the the route you will take from the origin to the destination, but In terms of human driving and so forth individual decision making you cannot control but you can trick them. (24:00-24:30)” The quote stood out to me while I was listening because it was astonishing how close you can relate different types of network to the physical and mental capabilities of any living thing. Taming Complexity by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi was a very informative article, my interpretation of it was that because theirs a vast amount of complex systems the equipment that we have now cannot for the most part breakdown these systems, “When we try to characterize the many complex systems around us, the available tools fail for increasingly obvious reasons. First, most complex systems are not made of identical and undistinguishable components, each gene in a cell or individual in a country has its own characteristic behavior. Second, and more importantly, the components obey neither the extreme disorder of gases, nor the extreme order of magnets (Barabasi).” The factors in understanding different networks can take a lifetime, in a way it can be infinite because the more we delve into solving these networks the more questions we will have to solve and ask. The complexity of it is what I found the most exciting, it’s like an endless void the deeper you go the more you question everything and have to start from the beginning.
