07 Readings – Watts

The Network.

It sounds terrifying. Like one of those technological thrillers in the 90’s. Sandra Bullock probably starred in it, with lots of green 0’s and 1’s flashing on a screen.

Oh wait…

Anyway.

Watts is writing about the network in this week’s readings, and there are a couple of little ideas that I took from it – things I found interesting. One was the story about Britain’s halftime tea brewing. I remember a similar little anecdote about how during the MASH series finale, New York City’s water system broke down because everyone got up to use the toilet in an ad break. What Watts takes out of this is the behaviour of groups, of systems. While an individual may be extraordinarily complex, a group or system of them can display a basic simplicity – or possibly possess infinitely more complexity. Watts poses the question of whether we can create a pattern between individual and system, and it’s an interesting thought. Is there any way of analysing the individuals in a large group, and predicting the phenomena that emerge in these new systems?

And since my battery’s about to go kaput, I will leave it there for now.