High Scalability - High Scalability. Welcome to the COOK Report on Internet Protocol.
Subjectivity and intersubjectivity of voluntary peer networks. Excerpted from a discussion by Gideon Rosenblatt: “In networks, authority is distributed and agreed to voluntarily. There is no centralized power with final say over what does and doe not happen or with the power to enforce compliance by network members. Power makes relationships work within a hierarchy. I do what you say, ultimately, because I report to you. In a network, we’re both peers. Trust is the lubricant that supports relationships and makes a network work. Strange as it might seem, nature is full of examples of networks of trusted autonomous actors, working collaboratively with one another. Vulnerability is a key aspect of trust. Bees trust flowers to pollinate them despite the vulnerability this entails, thanks to millions of years of evolutionary programming. While trust isn’t earned or forced, respect is one of those things that can be mandated.
Mutual respect is the bilateral flow of respect that opens us to new connections in a network. Trust and Networks. Trust makes networks work. When trust is high among members of a network, there’s a wonderful cohesiveness and capacity to get work done. When trust is low and relationships are plagued by suspicion, networks collapse into brittle organizational structures that rarely offset their operational costs in real world outcomes. Trust builds living networks that are highly resilient, flexible and efficient. People who trust each other more easily forgive each other for the bumps that inevitably arise from working together.
Defining a network: If you want to understand why trust is so important to the vibrancy of a network, it helps to have a working definition of networks. “Networks are voluntary connections between autonomous peers.” Let’s break this definition down; first, autonomy. What does this have to do with networks? Networks are an alternative organizational structure to hierarchies. Relationship is the Net in Network It takes a lot of work to make partnerships work. In Trust We Trust.