Contents
1 Introduction: The Digital Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
1.1
Living in the Age of “Big Data” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
1.2
Data Sets Bigger Than the Largest Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
1.3
Will a Digital Revolution Solve Our Problems? . . . . . . . . . . .
3
1.4
Big Data Gold Rush for the Twenty-First Century’s Oil . . . . .
4
1.5
Will Artificial Intelligence Overtake Us? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
1.6
When Big Data Starts to Steer Our Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6
1.7
The Cybernetic Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7
1.8
Wise Kings and Benevolent Dictators, Fueled by Big Data . . .
7
1.9
Do We Need to Sacrifice Our Personal Freedom? . . . . . . . . . .
8
1.10 Who Will Rule the World? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.11 Two Scenarios: Coercion or Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.12 A Better Future Ahead of Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.13 On the Way to a Smarter Digital Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Complexity Time Bomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1
Phantom Traffic Jams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2
Recessions—Traffic Jams in the World Economy? . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3
Systemic Instability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4
Beware of Strongly Coupled Systems! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.5
Cascading Effects in Complex Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.6
Large-Scale Power Blackouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.7
From Bankruptcy Cascades to Financial Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.8
A World Economic Crisis Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.9
Fundamental (“Radical”) Uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.10 Explosive Epidemics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.11 Systemic Interdependence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.12 Have Humans Created a “Complexity Time Bomb”? . . . . . . . 29
2.13 Unintended Wars and Revolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
xvii
1 Introduction: The Digital Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
1.1
Living in the Age of “Big Data” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
1.2
Data Sets Bigger Than the Largest Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
1.3
Will a Digital Revolution Solve Our Problems? . . . . . . . . . . .
3
1.4
Big Data Gold Rush for the Twenty-First Century’s Oil . . . . .
4
1.5
Will Artificial Intelligence Overtake Us? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
1.6
When Big Data Starts to Steer Our Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6
1.7
The Cybernetic Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7
1.8
Wise Kings and Benevolent Dictators, Fueled by Big Data . . .
7
1.9
Do We Need to Sacrifice Our Personal Freedom? . . . . . . . . . .
8
1.10 Who Will Rule the World? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.11 Two Scenarios: Coercion or Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.12 A Better Future Ahead of Us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.13 On the Way to a Smarter Digital Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Complexity Time Bomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1
Phantom Traffic Jams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2
Recessions—Traffic Jams in the World Economy? . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3
Systemic Instability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4
Beware of Strongly Coupled Systems! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.5
Cascading Effects in Complex Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.6
Large-Scale Power Blackouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.7
From Bankruptcy Cascades to Financial Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.8
A World Economic Crisis Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.9
Fundamental (“Radical”) Uncertainty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.10 Explosive Epidemics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.11 Systemic Interdependence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.12 Have Humans Created a “Complexity Time Bomb”? . . . . . . . 29
2.13 Unintended Wars and Revolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
xvii