As someone who took a whopping two math classes as an undergraduate student, it is both refreshing and sometimes frustrating thinking of certain concepts in non-abstract terms. Prior to reading the book, I never really considered networks so important in so many fields of science. It does make sense, though; in many sciences, strange things happen when groups are added to the mix. As quoted early on from Anderson, more is different.
With each iteration and additional field of study, new approaches address the different angles that networking has been studied from. Each time, fascinating ideas are revealed, from the Small-world Networks constrained between two curves to the baffling tests performed by Asch. While each further study provides a better idea of how networking and in many ways society works statistically, each test comes with a disclaimer warning that these don't cover everything.
And really, how could they? Even with the development of computers since the 1950's that have allowed people to research topics and simulate environments in ways that were unthinkable before, there are still thinks beyond our ability to imitate or replicate. We can calculate the possible variations of societies based on grouping and random encounters, and while this provides interesting information about Small-world Networks, it brings about far more questions than it answers. I almost wish that Watts had included the variables and criteria used to generate this information.
This isn't to say that the questions are bad, by any stretch of the imagination. Over the course of the book, all the statistics and numbers add up to provide a far more encompassing view of how networks operate, but it seems as though this information can realistically only be viewed separately. Like a much more complicated Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, there are multiple aspects of human nature that we have significant problems comparing and gauging side by side. Even the most complex simulation would have trouble taking everything into account. Humans are tricky like that.
But we do get a better idea of some of the stupid crazy things people are prone to (again, see Asch). As Watts ends with, this is all still relatively new. Strangely enough, many theories in networking share traits in physics and epidemiology and sociology, leading to new networks being formed between unlikely groups in the scientific community. The research is there, the application is complicated, and the work is set out for those that wish to continue in this field.
After reading the book--looking at the questions answered and the additional questions posed--I do wonder if anyone will ever uncover a definitive theory on how networks function. As Watt's pointed out, human beings have agency and this ability to choose our connections, sever ties and create new connections makes it seem almost impossible to ever develop a single theory that will explain how human social networks function...
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