Do Analog Theories Apply in the Modern Digisphere: What is a Network?

In my inagural series of blogs I will introduce networking theories taught in my B-school classes a decade ago. I ask those in my network to ponder and perhaps respond.

Humans spend an enormous amont of enegy communicating. We talk about the past, the present, the future, how they are connected, how they affect us, how we feel about it and what we plan to do about it.  Communicating enables our species to dream about things that do not exist and ultimately bring them to reality. This dreaming is often done internally, but requires the dissemination and rumination with others to be "fruitful." We cannot exist without synergistic communication.
Why and how do networks form?

John Naisbitt, American author and public speaker in the area of futures studies, suggests that networks simply stated are people talking to each other, sharing ideas, information and resources. In  his 2000 bestselling book Megatrends and Megatrends, he states that the important part is NOT the actual network, the finished product, but the process of getting there--the communication that creates the linkages between people and clusters of people.

In The  Aquarian Conspiracy, written by Marilyn  Ferguson in 1980, networks are described as elemental in changing society by improving productivity and work life through resource sharing. She stated 30 years ago that they are structured to transmit information in a way that is quicker, more high-tech, and more energy-efficient than ANY OTHER PROCESS WE KNOW.

The greatest attraction of a network is that is it the MOST EFFICIENT way to gain information. Although sharing information and contacts is their main purpose, networks can go beyond the mere transfer of data to the CREATION of knowledge. Describing this process, Williard Van de Bogart writes: "Each new thought is being integrated into the next thought, producing a new cumulative awareness of himan nature and the universe we live in. These new mental models are being shared within the newly developed networks  throughout the world."

Life in a network involves a power shift from the vertical to the horizontal and this liberates ALL that participate. Hierarchies promote moving up and getting ahead, producing stress, tension and anxiety. Networking empowers the individual, and people in networks tend to nurture each other. In the network environment, rewards come by empowering others not delegating.