One of the most frequent representations of value comes through the universal perception of a network.
A network is the combination of various elements or values to create a collective, larger value. Each larger thing is made of smaller things, ever-progressively, until we start diving into the periphery of our understanding.
However, we don’t immediately recognize this network belief. Networks typically only arise within standard dialogue when they’re used for diagnosis of a problem or when they’re explicitly named.
Networks consist of several base components:
- Nodes, which always represent as nouns.
- Connections, which can represent as absolutely anything connected with those nouns.
The connections represent relationships with everything else, but the use of a connection is highly dependent on the precise specifications represented for that node. For example, if a node possesses the exact same qualities of its surroundings, our minds will fail to manage the demarcation between node and connection.
While graphs and mental models may imply it, each network node is not a static existence, and is actually another smaller network when more closely inspected. An organization within society, for example, is also another network of people, which can go down to one person, and can divide into that person’s moods or viewpoints. This pattern can repeat itself downward or upward indefinitely.
Networks, however, are merely representations of understanding. This means that two similar networks are not mutually exclusive. An example would be how the body’s circulatory system and respiratory system both use some similar nodes. The differences come through the interpreted purpose of the nodes, so they will present themselves as a type of image.
Beyond anything within our perceived world, we develop creative ideas by filling in and changing networks, and we do it through a few major pathways:
- Finding connections that hadn’t been observed before (e.g., how two different objects are relatively alike).
- Finding new nodes that were not previously observed (e.g., detecting a new way to see things).
- Severing connections that had been presumed (e.g., scientific discoveries that discover a lack of correlation).
- Constructing new networks toward new purposes with existing nodes (e.g., using a common technology for an uncommon use).
The fascinating reality of these networks, though, is that we feel them through intuition more than we can articulately understand or communicate them. We can specialize into either using them for our purposes (and not knowing how to communicate the scope of the network) or learn to teach them (and therefore not be as useful working with that network).
Network Issues
The significance of these networks can’t be understated, and building too many or too few connections can harm us:
- Not understanding the connections among elements is how people become technical idiots.
- We feel anxiety when we fail to reliably remove connections enough that the imagined possibilities don’t scare us.
Further, most interpersonal conflicts arise through failing to recognize the presence of networks and how much they’re subject to change:
- Each person’s understanding is a separate network.
- Every single existing object contains more networks within it than we are presently aware of.
- Every single object is part of more networks than we are presently aware of.
- Networks are constantly adapting without our awareness.
Further, in the absence of more information, the domain of image distortion involves either making stories that remove key nodes, or simply fabricating nodes that don’t exist.