There is an interesting article by Art Kleiner on Stephenson's Quantum Theory of Trust in the current issue of Strategy+Business. Stephenson is working with the 'Information Awareness Office' to help them understand and undermine the nodes, links and trust in Al Qaeda?s network.

It is now fairly well understood that that ideas, trends, technology can spread in nonlinear fashion with certain people acting as the network hubs / connectors / vectors.

Stephenson says that there are 6 kinds of networks. She holds the view that network health can be measured and improved. She "doesn?t suggest replacing hierarchies with networks. She sees organizations as a sort of double-helix system, with hierarchy and networks perpetually influencing each other, ideally co-evolving over time to become more effective."

Update: Wired has the best reading list on emerging networks that I have seen so far. (via Field notes) 'Emergence' is an exciting reading. I am hearing great things about Smart Mobs.