RoR: Forum

Post 0

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - 7:28am

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I want to see some discussion about this quote as far as how it applies to a network of humans with common interests, e.g. a global Objectivist club network. I assume Metcalfe here refers to a well-designed network and not just some slapdash tangle of interconnected nodes.

(Edited by Luke Setzer on 3/22, 7:29am)

Post 1

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - 4:13pm

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A network should not be "designed" - at least, not if you're talking about centralised control. The value comes from having autonomous nodes. Such a network is adaptive, resilient and develops emergent order.

Post 2

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - 7:18pm

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I had to sanction the geeky quote. Metcalfe presents a valid idea that for n nodes, the number of potential connections is on the order of n^2.

In reality many of those potential connections - be it internet or interpersonal - will go unused, so the real value will be somewhere between n and n^2. Whether it's even proportional to n^2 is debatable, but saying it was in proportion to something else like n*log(n) wouldn't have made for a very catchy quote.