Trees
Important religious symbols: ancient Babylon, Judaism, Christianity
Important knowledge classification systems: blood-ties, characters of narratives, areas of science, species
The tree is a widespread metaphor
Order, symmetry, hierarchy, simplicity, balance, unity
Embodies a way we like to see the world
A universal structure
But now, moving from trees to networks
Such as the RHIZOME: Guattari: “an acentred, non hierarchical, non signifying system without a general organizing memory or central automaton, defined solely by a circulation of states.
Warren Weaver, Organized Complexity, 1948
17th-19th centuries: problems of simplicity; first half of 20th century: disorganized complexity; end of 20th, current: organized complexity
Trees do not suffice for systems of organized complexity
We used to think about the brain as a modular, centralized organ, with different areas responsible for given sets of actions or behaviours. But the brain is not centralized at all.
Wikipedia is one of the largest rhizomatic structures known to man.
We see problems of organized complexity in how we organize ourselves.
Overlaying Darwin’s tree of life, there is a dense network of bacteria tying very disparate species together. This is significant, because human cells are 90% bacteria. It is the network of life. The brain, molecules, societies, ecosystems, are all networks.
Networks pervade human technologies.
Is there such a thing as a universal structure?
The nuero-network of a mouse greatly resembles the millenium simulation
Specialization is for insects; network thinking is the next step.