On Fri, 8 Dec 2000, Tim May wrote:
Distributed, fractal, peer-to-peer, nonhierarchical, geodesic, silk road, agoric, anarchic, are all terms basically describing the same sort of thing. Which term is whizzier is in the eye of the beholder.
Personally, I got tired several years ago of hearing everything described as a "fractal geodesic network." I don't know whether the
'geodesic' means the shortest possible path, with respect to the geometry of the 'space', between two points. Fractal simply means non-integer dimension. Computer networks, at least copper or fiber based, can't be fractal. The traffic patterns can have fractal patterns (e.g. Foucault Dust periodicity) but that isn't the same thing at all. 'fractal geodesic network' is spin doctor bullshit. And the Internet is most certainly NOT(!) geodesic with respect to packet paths. ____________________________________________________________________ Before a larger group can see the virtue of an idea, a smaller group must first understand it. "Stranger Suns" George Zebrowski The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------