{"product_id":"the-webs-awake-isbn-9780470137949","title":"The Web's Awake","description":"The central thesis of \u003ci\u003eThe Web's Awake\u003c\/i\u003e is that the phenomenal growth and complexity of the web is beginning to outstrip our capability to control it directly. Many have worked on the concept of emergent properties within highly complex systems, concentrating heavily on the underlying mechanics concerned. Few, however, have studied the fundamentals involved from a sociotechnical perspective. In short, the virtual anatomy of the Web remains relatively uninvestigated. \u003ci\u003eThe Web's Awake\u003c\/i\u003e attempts to seriously explore this gap, citing a number of provocative, yet objective, similarities from studies relating to both real world and digital systems. It presents a collage of interlinked facts, assertions, and coincidences, which boldly point to a Web with powerful potential for life.  Foreword.  \u003cp\u003ePreface.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePrologue.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER 1\u003c\/b\u003e THE WEB AND LIFE\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIntroduction.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlmost None of This Is New.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhere to Begin?—Web Misconceptions and Folklore.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOur Understandings of the Web.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePower of the People.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Dark Side of the Force.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhat Would a Web Be Without the Holes?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eStructure Abounds.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFour Dimensions Are Not Enough.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOur Understandings of Life.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLife’s Playground—A Universe of Infinite Possibilities.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEnquiries into the Definition of Life.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMore Contemporary Viewpoints on Life.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER 2\u003c\/b\u003e THE SPECTRUM OF COMPLEXITY.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA Complex Web.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Natural Mix of Order and Disorder.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEmergence—The Complexity Sweet Spot.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMankind, Complexity, and Our Attempts to Understand the Unreal.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCould You Repeat That Please?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSelf-Similarity and Recursion.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBack to Measures of Complexity.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Theory of Complexity.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Crossover Between Orderly and Chaotic Systems.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOnwards to Chaos.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eModern-Day Approaches to Complexity.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER 3\u003c\/b\u003e THE IMPORTANCE OF DISCRETENESS AND SYMMETRY IN SYSTEMS\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLet’s Be Discrete.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA Brief Word of Warning.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBoiling the Numbers Out of Computing.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Power of Two.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLet’s Split the Difference.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSymmetry in Systems.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER 4\u003c\/b\u003e NATURAL STRUCTURES FOR MAN-MADE MACHINES— CURVATURE IN INFORMATION AND COMPUTATION\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEngineering Problems.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eArrows Everywhere—Graph Theory and Feynman-Like Diagrams.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRelays and Switches by Any Other Name.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDifferentiation Through Divergence.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRelationships and Twisting Sequences.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGrowth Spirals, Fibonacci Progressions, and Other Sequential Patterns.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eL-Systems.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eInformation Compression and Maximization in Biological Systems.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDegrees of Freedom and Information Representation in Biological Systems.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA More Detailed Account of DNA’s Structure.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMore Evidence of Efficiency at Play in DNA and Higher Levels of Physiology.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBooks, Bytes, Computers, and Biological Systems—An Analogy.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER 5\u003c\/b\u003e POSITIONAL INFORMATION AND SCALE-FREE NETWORKS.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA Right Place for Everything.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhat Is Information Anyway?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA Bow to Tie Coincidence Together.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhy Is Kevin Bacon so Important?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eScale-Free Networks.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Web’s Body Mass.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDNA as an Ontogenetic Database.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBack to Gödel—Compression, Keys, Catalysts, and Restrictors.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER 6\u003c\/b\u003e EVOLUTION THROUGH ENGINEERING.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSome Key Questions Still Remain.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMemes and Universal Darwinism.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBoolean Logic, Regulatory Networks, and New Forms of Life.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBinary Biological Machines.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003enK Networks.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e“X” as a Canonical Super Pattern.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAutocatalytic Sets.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER 7\u003c\/b\u003e A LESS-THAN-SIMPLE MATTER OF BOUNDLESS ORGANICS.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOpen Worlds, Feedback, and Critical Self-Organization.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGödel, Incompleteness, and Maintenance Through Changing Boundaries.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAn Abstractionless Universe.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSelf-Sustaining, Self-Organizing Systems.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER 8\u003c\/b\u003e EMERGENT INTELLIGENCE AND POSTHUMAN CONCEPTS.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhy on the Web?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTechnology Lock-In.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSwarm Behavior.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eArtificial Life.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Swarm Being that Is the Web.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Web’s Core Memory and Its Place in Information Value.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Apparent Failure of Artificial Intelligence.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePosthuman Philosophies and Collective Consciousness.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Penrose Paradox.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER 9\u003c\/b\u003e THE PHYSICS OF INFORMATION AND COMPUTING\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Attraction of “Why” and the Ubiquity of Complexity as a Metaproperty.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSpin Glass.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eQuantum Comparisons.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMore about Dimensions.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eStrange Loops, Spin Networks, and Problems with the Web’s Constitution.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eComputational Duality.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Web’s Superposition.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCould Penrose Be Right After All?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eQuantum Brains.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOne Big Spiny String Thing.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eQuantum Darwinism.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER 10\u003c\/b\u003e COUNTER ARGUMENTS\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAll Those Against.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eComputing the Incomputable.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eObservation and Practicality in Computation.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSpaceships Can Come in Handy.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhen Is a Curve not a Curve, When Is a Brain not a Brain?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA Matter of What, not How.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER 11\u003c\/b\u003e OBJECTIVE OPINIONS\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOpinions of the Uber-Geeks.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAre We Right to Talk about a Global “Brain”?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOver the Horizon.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA Final Sprinkle of Philosophy.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAPPENDIX \u003ci\u003eA\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e AN OUTLINE OF THE SEMANTIC WEB AND ITS POTENTIAL FOR SOFTWARE ENGINEERING.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBlue Chips.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSemantic Web Technologies Make the Web’s Meaning Much More Specific.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAutonomic Systems and Software Engineering.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Future of Software Engineering Lies with Discovery.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSmushing.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRuntime Autonomic Semantic Applications.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eStumbleUpon.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAPPENDIX B\u003c\/b\u003e BEYOND THE SEMANTIC WEB\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOverlaps.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA Semantic Web Primer for Object-Oriented Software Practitioners.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eReferences.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndex.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAbout the Author.\u003c\/p\u003e  \"I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in how the World Wide Web has developed, and continues to evolve.\" (\u003ci\u003eBritish Computer Society Book Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e)  \u003cp\u003e\"…a surprisingly easy and engaging book to read…an essential book for anyone interested in artificial life, artificial intelligence and information studies.\" (\u003ci\u003eCHOICE\u003c\/i\u003e, October 2007)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"...a compelling and enjoyable read, enthralling and thought-provoking...a fascinating and provocative perspective on what the Web is and what it will be.\" (\u003ci\u003eSirReadaLot.org\u003c\/i\u003e, June 2007)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003ePhilip Tetlow\u003c\/b\u003e is a Senior Certified IT Architect in IBM's Global Business Services Division, a Chartered Engineer, and an Open Group Master IT Architect. He has more than twenty years of experience in the IT industry, specializing in the application of Web-based technologies, metadata, and transformation techniques on large central government systems. He is a member of the World Wide Web Consortium and was responsible for coordinating its task force on the application of the semantic Web in software engineering.  \u003cb\u003eA fascinating perspective on what the Web is and what it will be\u003c\/b\u003e  \u003cp\u003eHas the World Wide Web evolved into a new life form? The author of this provocative book, Philip Tetlow, presents a very compelling argument that it indeed has.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDrawing from theories originating in the natural sciences, mathematics, and information technology, The Web's Awake explores how the continued growth and increasing complexity of the Web are quickly outstripping our capability to control it. In other words, the Web has quite literally taken on a life of its own.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eStringently researched and clearly presented, the book examines a number of emergent characteristics and behaviors of the Web that have not been programmed, but rather have evolved. As the number and strength of these new Web characteristics and behaviors continue to increase, the author persuasively argues that the Web should be considered a living organism in its own right, a new post-human species consisting of a single member.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHaving established a new understanding of what the Web is, the author next offers a remarkable perspective on how the Web is evolving towards independence. He further argues that understanding the Web's evolution as an act of nature enables us to better harness the Web's resources for the good of society.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhile researchers in the emerging field of Web science have attempted to categorize what the Web is, this book takes a radically new approach that will change your understanding of the very nature and essence of the Web—what it is and where it is heading. Whether your interest lies in computing, information technology, evolution, physics, or biology, the author's clearly written, plain-English arguments are fascinating material for thought.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wiley-IEEE Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47990365913317,"sku":"NP9780470137949","price":88.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780470137949.jpg?v=1761787531","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-webs-awake-isbn-9780470137949","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}