Observations: Network dynamics similar between atoms, cells, organisms, groups, dance parties.
by Jango – originally shared on jango.eth.limo
My observations and understandings of how networks generally behave in nature. Those of atoms, cells, organisms, groups.
TLDR this is how a network forms:
… once instigated, the network eventually will fade away. When it does, it as a living energy owes more to those participants who dance until the network’s very end than it does to those who correctly called the top and left before everyone else.
A money and marketplace that recognizes this and figures out how to express these values might end up being the backbone of very attractive and resilient networks.
Networks
A network is a complex interplay of participating things. It is the energy that makes coordination more than the sum of its parts.
A network is productive so long as it is actively participating with its out-of-network environment. This is true if the network has 2 participants, or 1,000,000. If a network’s participants are in motion — either entering or exiting — it is alive, in a state of creation, a structure giving new shape to the moment’s energy. Without motion, it’s left scheming as to how it may eventually catalyze productivity, or be made productive by the whims of its external environment.
A network’s energies
A network thus has kinetic and potential energy. Its kinetic energy is this rate of its participants’ motion, entering and exiting — how alive a network is at any point in time. Its potential energy is in its number of participants who can exit at any time, and in the communication between participants as their behavior can motivate new entries and exits. It takes more focused energy or chance to attract/repel the 3rd participant than it does the 1,000,000th participant.
Minimum viable network
At 2 participants, a network’s potential is at its lowest — the hardest state to muster any motion from since no one has a good reason to enter or to exit. Agency, responsibility, and communication are consolidated as much as possible. The “upside” potential is limitless in theory, but tangibly its potential is insignificant since one kinetic act would dissolve it entirely. Any potential energy that does exist is derived entirely from the behavior and relationship of the 2 participants, otherwise much is left to the unlikely chance of interaction with the external environment.
Network expansion is very productive
When a new participant enters a network, the network distances itself from its lowest energy state. More energy is now required to blow it all up, agency and responsibility spread out a little, there’s more multi-dimensional communication throughout, it becomes clearer to others how and why they should join too, and the probability of chance interactions with the broader environment increases. In this moment of kinetic energy, the network also gains in potential since there now exists the requisite for motion when this new participant eventually exits the network. This kinetic energy turns some extrinsic potential energy into intrinsic potential energy — which will have to be spent as kinetic energy later. Win for the current network and win for the future network.
Network contraction is also productive
When a participant leaves, the network consolidates its energy. It becomes easier for the resulting smaller network to renegotiate its direction. Agency and responsibility increase for remaining participants, communication streamlines, and participants considering entering might reconsider the move. All are now less motivated to enter or exit as there is less going on, less stress. The network turned some of its intrinsic potential energy into kinetic energy. Win for the current network, but its future is now a little less determined.
Take away
The manner with which our human network allocates resources might can learn something from how networks deal in energy. A money and marketplace that expresses the value found in the organic motion between the ebbs and flows of the network it facilitates might outcompete those more growth maxi after all.
Retailism hints at a how such a network could manifest: https://jango.eth.limo/3EB05292-0376-4B7D-AFCF-042B70673C3D/