Network Logic - Index of

Network logic
has coined the term ‘network society’ to describe and analyse this new
social structure. 1
In science, the focus on networks began in the 1920s, when
ecologists viewed ecosystems as communities of organisms, linked
together in network fashion through feeding relations, and used the
concept of food webs to describe these ecological communities. As
the network concept became more and more prominent in ecology,
systemic thinkers began to use network models at all systems levels,
viewing organisms as networks of cells, and cells as networks of
molecules, just as ecosystems are understood as networks of
individual organisms. Correspondingly, the flows of matter and
energy through ecosystems were perceived as the continuation of the
metabolic pathways through organisms. 2
The ‘Web of Life’ is, of course, an ancient idea, which has been used
by poets, philosophers, and mystics throughout the ages to convey
their sense of the interwovenness and interdependence of all
phenomena. In this essay I shall discuss the fundamental role of
networks in the organisation of all living systems, according to
complexity theory and other recent developments in the natural and
social sciences, and I shall analyse the similarities and differences
between biological and social networks in some detail. 3
The nature of life
Let us begin with biology and ask: what is the essential nature of life
in the realm of plants, animals, and micro-organisms? To understand
the nature of life, it is not enough to understand DNA, genes,
proteins, and the other molecular structures that are the building
blocks of living organisms, because these structures also exist in dead
organisms, for instance in a dead piece of wood or bone.
The difference between a living organism and a dead organism lies
in the basic process of life – in what sages and poets throughout the
ages have called the ‘breath of life’. In modern scientific language, this
process of life is called metabolism. It is the ceaseless flow of energy
and matter through a network of chemical reactions, which enables a
living organism to continually generate, repair and perpetuate itself.
26 Demos