Netcom (Dec 2015)
Asygnosis and asygnotic networks
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to create a dialogue between disparate academic disciplines around the topics of decision making, human communication networks, and information exchange. The emergence of modern telecommunications, including social media, gaming platforms, and instant messaging has enabled the emergence of massive online global communities numbering into the tens and hundreds of millions of persons regardless of culture and language capable of exchanging ideas, images, and impressions in real time. The unprecedented scope and scale of these networks challenges contemporary theories in management and decision making, political organization and governance of institutions, sociology, and communications. Our argument is that these theories are outdated and must be rethought. We propose a simple model, "asygnosis", in which decisions and strategies are the product of the continuous (non-discrete) flows of information, ideas and impressions (“memes”) along ever-changing communication pathways between individuals and/or machines. These networks reflect the undirected emergence, exchange and demise of knowledge that forms around a specific idea or activity. They challenge traditional assumptions about rationality, causality, and the use of organizational structures as control mechanisms which form the basis of most social, economic and political theories. After developing the concept in detail of asyngnosis and asyngnotic networks, we apply it to current issues including unpredictable events that takes place without direct control such as the rise of spontaneous terrorism, and other social and political phenomenon such as the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street. Finally, the paper suggests areas of future research in a number of disciplines that might help develop the concept further, test assumptions, and lead to new insights into this emerging phenomenon.
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