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In search of certainty : the science of our information infrastructure
Author
Title
In search of certainty : the science of our information infrastructure / Mark Burgess.
ISBN
9781491923375
1491923377
9781491923368
1491923369
9781491923078
1491923075
9781491923078
Edition
Second edition, revised & updated.
Publication
Sebastopol, CA : O'Reilly Media, [2015]
Copyright Notice Date
©2015
Physical Description
1 online resource.
Local Notes
Access is available to the Yale community.
Access and use
Access restricted by licensing agreement.
Summary
Quite soon, the world's information infrastructure is going to reach a level of scale and complexity that will force scientists and engineers to approach it in an entirely new way. The familiar notions of command and control are being thwarted by realities of a faster, denser world of communication where choice, variety, and indeterminism rule. The myth of the machine that does exactly what we tell it has come to an end. What makes us think we can rely on all this technology? What keeps it together today, and how might it work tomorrow? Will we know how to build the next generation-or will w.
Variant and related titles
O'Reilly Safari. OCLC KB.
Other formats
Print version: Burgess, Mark, 1966- In search of certainty. Second edition. Sabastapol, CA : O'Reilly Media, 2015
Format
Books / Online
Language
English
Added to Catalog
January 14, 2020
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Part I: stability : or how we base technology on science
King Canute and the butterfly : how we create the illusion of being in control
Feedback patterns and thresholds : how the relative sizes of things govern our behaviour
Digilogy: cause, effect, and information : how transmitted information shapes the world from the bottom up
All the roads to nowhere : how keeping things in balance is the essence of control
Zero and the building blocks of Babel : how to forge the atoms of reliable infrastructure
Part II: certainty : living with incomplete information
Keeping it together by pulling it apart : how weak coupling strengthened human infrastructure
Seeing is disbelieving : how to explain what we see and make use of it
The equilibrium of knowing or how not to disagree with yourself
Clockwork uncertainty : the arms race between reason and complexity
Part III: promises : the chemistry of autonomous cooperation
The concept of promises : or why behaviour comes from within
The human condition : how humans make friends to solve problems
Molecular and material infrastructure : elastic, plastic and brittle design
Orchestration and creative instability : or why the conductor does not promise to blow every trumpet.
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