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We had messed around with the idea of a string phone system, in which
all the string phones would be attached to a tensioned drum head.  We
never got as far as putting it together, but we thought that might be a
way to use simple analog technology to convey the many-to-many type of
networked communications.

>
> In retrospect, I wish we'd built a network of talking tubes,
> complete
> with "switchers."
> Could be cool--and it gets at the whole subject of the
> Network, which
> is tougher to tackle than at first it may seem.

You got that right.  We are in production for Connections-the Nature of
Networks.  After a while, everything looks like a network, or at least
an emergent system.  There are several great books about this that have
come out recently, by Laszlo Barabasi, Duncan Watts, Steve Strogatz,
Steve Johnson, and last but definitely not least Wolfram.

Eric Siegel
Director of Planning
   & Program Development
Connections Project Director
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Queens, NY 11368
[log in to unmask]
www.nyscience.org

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