In another piece that puts together natural, technological, and social history (Gilder 1998), the author upholds information as the underlying building block of the universe, the key to life: “Ruled by DNA codes, cells are chiefly a symbol system governed by information theory. Codes precede chemistry and are not reducible to it” (Gilder 1998). The foundation of life, according to this, is information, not substance; the secret of life is encapsulates in information, in immaterial codes. This is true in nature, it is by construction the essence of information technology, and, as we will further see, this should and would (given technological determinism) ultimately be the blueprint for society.
The convergence of technology and biology is tackled head on in a special issue of Wired, “Living Machines” (Wired editors 2004a). The opening article outlines the basic premises of that approach: “Scientific advances point to a startling conclusion: The nonliving world is very much alive” (Meyer 2004). This, according to the article, is true for all sorts of nonliving human creations (“markets and power grids have much in common with plants and animals”). But more important, this is true for network technology: “We’re beginning to discern life processes at their fundamental level, and as we re-create these processes in silico, we’re starting to see how they work in inorganic settings. It turns out that many of life’s properties—emergence, self-organization, reproduction, coevolution—show up in systems generally regarded as nonliving” (Meyer 2004). “Computer programs,” the author says, “procreate, too. Genetic algorithms mimic biology’s capacity for innovation through genetic recombination and replication, shuffling 1s and 0s the way nature does DNA’s Gs, Ts, As, and Cs, then reproducing the best code for further recombination” (Meyer 2004). With these properties now being built into network technology “the line between organisms and machines is beginning to blur” (Meyer 2004). The author gives an example of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Programmed with simple rules, the UAVs are able “to direct themselves better than any dispatcher could” (Meyer 2004). The UAVs are networked and self-taught: “If one is shot down over Afghanistan, all drones everywhere gain improved responses to that form of attack.” Not surprisingly, this technological sophistication has been known in nature for ages. The way UAVs work “is precisely how bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics, only faster” (Meyer 2004). So far the metaphor is restricted to nature and technology. To conclude the trinity, another link is added—the social realm. “Oddly enough,” he says, “our growing knowledge of life processes could have its biggest impact in the social sciences. Social systems, after all, are made up of interacting agents, i.e., people. When we become adept at applying these insights to the social sphere, we’ll be able to run simulations that reveal, say, the conditions under which Iraq would reconstruct itself. At that point, the new science of life will help us not only live better, but live better together” (Meyer 2004).
Network Cosmology and the Exhaustion of Criti<sub>q</sub>ue
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