Euler’s fundament of 1736

Add comment September 6th, 2006 Robert Bosman

‘No problem can be solved with the same
level of thinking, that created it.’ (Einstein)

In order to create a new Architecture for both Society 4.0 and Web 4.0, we need an approach that is different form anything that created the past and the present. My proposal is to start in 1736, when the Swiss physicist and mathematician Leonhard Euler solved the so called problem of the Seven Bridges of Königsberg. The city of Kaliningrad, Russia (at the time, Königsberg, Germany) is set on the Pregolya River, and included two large islands which were connected to each other and the mainland by seven bridges. The question is whether it is possible to walk with a route that crosses each bridge exactly once, and return to the starting point.

Euler proved that it was not possible. To do so Euler rephrased the problem in terms of graph theory, by abstracting the case of Königsberg — first, by eliminating all features except the landmasses and the bridges connecting them; second, by replacing each landmass with a dot, called a vertex or node, and each bridge with a line, called an edge or link. The resulting mathematical structure is called a graph.

Euler realized that the problem could be solved in terms of the degrees of the nodes. The degree of a node is the number of relations connecting it with other nodes. In the Königsberg bridge graph, three nodes (B, C & D) have degree 3 and one node (A) has degree 5. Euler proved that a circuit of the desired form (using each relation once, and return to the starting point) is possible if and only if there are no nodes of odd degree. Such a walk is since then called an Eulerian circuit or an Euler tour. Since the graph corresponding to Königsberg has four nodes of odd degree, it cannot have a so called ‘Eulerian circuit’.

In the history of mathematics, Euler’s solution of the Königsberg bridge problem is considered to be the first theorem of graph theory. In addition, Euler’s recognition that the key information was the number of bridges and the list of their endpoints (rather than their exact positions) presaged the development of topology.

Graph theory for one helps us to understand more about human society. For instance, it may be clear that todays networks maybe presented as graphs. Doing so helps us to make complex situations transparent and manageable. The two pictures beneath for example are exactly the same network; the first one is how we see networks in everydays life; the second one how we may order it using graph theory.

So, what we need in the architecture of our future, is a strong and simple way to make our society transparant. More about the way Euler’s graph theory may help us in later posts.

Technorati Tags: web2.0, society, networks, network architecture, Euler, mathematics, graph, graph theory , practosophy

Garbage in…garbage out…

Add comment September 6th, 2006 Robert Bosman

The chaos in the visible world
is a reflection of our collective consciousness.

The actual infrastructure of our society has been developed by trial and error. By itself there is nothing wrong with that. However, it has become a “garbage” situation. A huge number of new or changed laws and regulations from governments and all kinds of institutes poors down daily on innocent people, companies and NGO’s. And almost every law or regulation creates the necessity of another administrative system. Millions of incompatible and poorly synchronized databases generate an information-smog, which makes reality a ‘Judy in Disguise’. Millions of people are typing data in systems that are already available in other systems. At a minimum 5 in each 1000 characters typed over are wrong. So, can you imagine the costs of all that avoidable work and even more, the cost of repairing all that, in the present system, unavoidable mistakes? Can you imagine the amount of human energy waisted that could have been used for more important tasks, like parenting, sharing, teaching, caring, cleaning the environment, helping, inventing, thinking, laughing, loving…

Justice = (our collective ability to administer and enforce the laws) / (the number of laws an regulations)

Maybe this is a very simple equation, but nevertheless a very powerful one. Because, as soon as the first part of the equation is lower than the second one, justice has become arbitrary. And justice can’t be arbitrary without being lost!

So, are we really living in the 21st century? Is this society the result of centuries of scientific development? Realy, our lifes can be so much better!!!

But how? The model of Vision & Action may give us a sense of direction. First of all we need a new vision on our society as a whole and on our personal task and place in it. Secondly, we need new systems, specifically developed to coordinate and cultivate the society of tomorrow and all its co-creative players.

That’s the reason, that this weblog is both about Society, The Next Web and the Architecture of Participation that synergizes both. Moreover, this weblog is also about Practosophy, the practical philosophy that is the Alfa and Omega, the beginning and the end of it - because of the simple fact that everything starts with an idea…
That Practosophy is not something that’s already available to some people, religions or organizations. It has to be invented and created by all of us, everyday.

Technorati Tags: web 2.0, data islands, information garbage, synchronisation, society, philosophy, practosophy

The silent revolution

Add comment September 5th, 2006 Robert Bosman

The next web is much more about a change
in people and society than about technology

So, to begin with, I want to mention a recent post of Dion Hinchliffe in which he once more illustrates both the quantity as the quality and direction of the developments in the webworld. First of all he uses the next illustration:

It’s a powerful illustration, that shows the almost unbelievable development in users and websites. But equally important is the growth in user generated content: about 100 million users are contributing to the web in websites, weblogs, photo’s, video’s, podcasts and more! So, where the old web was mostly one way traffic, the next web is a two way road. And this goes in many ways: not only is often the reader also a writer, the customer is more and more also an supplier or a salesagent. So, we very much agree with Dion as he says: ‘The next web is much more about a change in people and society than about technology.’

We have to realize that this change doesn’t effect only the users itself, it effects also all organizations in the world, including governments, governmental and non-governmental organizations! A very interesting paper, called ‘The Next Disruption’ is mentioned in a recent post of John DevaDoss (Microsoft Architecture Strategy Department) and written by his collegue Michael Platt. Some quotes of this paper:

• ‘We are entering a time of rapid change in the IT industry that will cause considerable dislocation and change in the Enterprise, IT suppliers, and the way that people perceive and use technologies. This disruption is similar to the PC and Internet revolutions in terms of scope and effect. (…) It has already spawned new marketplaces, industries, and multibillion dollar companies and had a dramatic effect on all aspects of business.’
• ‘The driving forces behind this disruption are the same ones that have driven the previous disruptions we have seen in the IT space: creativity, communication, and commerce.’
• ‘Those people and organizations that recognize them early will be the ones to benefit most.’
• ‘What is happening at the moment is the findings, businesses, activities, and technologies that have been incubated in the consumer space are rapidly migrating to, and being assimilated by, organizations of all sizes.’
• ‘It is clear that, moving forward, there will be three commerce models: transaction, subscription, and advertising-based.’
• ‘Relationship and Reputation is in many ways the underlying layer for the other elements.’
• ‘The whole of the customer contact, sales, and customer relationship management cycle will be revolutionized by the Web 2.0 tools and techniques. (…) All these areas can be made to be self-funding through the use of advertising-based models in the IT systems. It is certainly possible to think of the new enterprise marketing being a profit center for the organization.’
  
• ‘The Software+Services model will create a huge new range of ways of interacting with customers and consumers for enterprises of all sizes that in turn will provide new marketplaces, business opportunities, and revenue generation for the Enterprise.’

So, there are new horizons ahead both for the individual and for ‘the Enterprise’ (also the small ones). Still there’s one more player we shouldn’t forget: the governments and all related institutions. In the western world governments spend about 50% of the GNP, and that’s a lot of money. Moreover, they dictate a substantial part of the ‘rules of the game’. Sofar governments aren’t that much influenced by Web 2.0. But that is changing too. And fast!

The new Society will be totally different for all players…

Technorati Tags: web 2.0, web history, society, new world, philosophy, practosophy, intelligence, collective intelligence