The Real Matrix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK1Cb9qj3qQ

Thank you Kevin Bacon!!

I saw this post on Howard Rheingold's website "smartmobs." Basically it is a movie that is premiering in the US on the 15th of February about the new field of study called "Network Theory." It is based loosely on the 6 degrees of separation maxim that has been used for some time in popular culture, but network theory takes it to a whole new level. The core concept is that to understand anything we must understand the networks that those things are involved in, and following we can thus understand the path we are heading on by watching the interaction of the networks that exist.
The whole concept behind this theory and experiment is mind boggling. To say that because we have connected ourselves so thoroughly we can now see how we interact on an individual level at any given time in any given way terrifies me. They have compared this theory and the possibilities that seem to be possible through it with Newton's theories of gravity. The idea that we are going to revolutionize the way we understand our world through applications such as facebook and myspace, even though these are probably the least of them, seems far-fetched. The youtube video promoting this documentary, as intriguing as it is, sounds a little to similar to the tone that was used in "The Secret," which was a complete scam in my opinion. However, because the implications of this theory are so much more vast than that of previous unified theory proposals I considered it's progress something worth following.