World Scientific is starting a new journal on nanoscience. The web site is a little flaky, so if the direct URL doesn't work, visit www.wspc.com.sg and navigate to IJN via "WorldSciNet", then "new journals".

This inter-disciplinary, internationally-reviewed research journal covers all aspects of nanometer scale science and technology. Articles in any contemporary topical areas are sought, from basic science of nanoscale physics and chemistry to nanostructured materials and applications in nanodevices, quantum engineering and quantum computing. IJN will include articles in the following research areas (and other related areas):

Nanoscale Properties, Atomic Manipulation, Fabrication, Processing, Precursors and Assembly, Nanostructure Arrays, Fullerenes, Carbon Nanotubes and Organic Nanostructures, Quantum Dots, Quantum Wires, Quantum Wells, Superlattices, Nanoelectronics, Single Electron Electronics and Devices, Molecular Electronics, Quantum Computing, Nanomechanics, Nanobiological Function and Life Sciences, Nanoscale Instrumentation and Characterization, Nano-optics, Photonic Crystals with Nanoscale Structural Fidelity

International Journal of Nanoscience (IJN)

Abstract: The organismic view of society is updated by incorporating concepts from cybernetics, evolutionary theory, and complex adaptive systems. ... In society ... increasing productivity, decreasing friction, ... and increasing cooperativity, transnational mergers and global institutions. ... [are] accompanied by increasing functional autonomy of individuals and organizations and the decline of hierarchies. The increasing complexity of interactions ... necessitate a strengthening of society?s ... nervous system.

This is realized by the creation of an intelligent global computer network ... the "global brain". Individuals are being integrated ever more tightly into this collective intelligence. ... [T]he superorganism model points ... towards increasing freedom and diversity. The model further suggests ... the emergence of an automated distribution network, a computer immune system, and a global consensus about values and standards.

The Global Superorganism: an evolutionary-cybernetic model of the emerging network society [PDF]

Exploring phenomena such as the world wide web, WAP telephones, multi-channel television and email, "Tyranny of the Moment" examines this new, nonlinear and fragmented way of communicating to reveal the effect it has on working conditions in the new economy, changes in family life and, ultimately, personal identity. Eriksen argues that a culture lacking a sense of its past, and therefore of its future, is effectively static. Although solutions are suggested, he demonstrates that there is no easy way out.

Tyranny of the Moment : Fast and Slow Time in the Information Age

Drawing on resources from information theory and evolutionary biology, Taylor explains the operation of complex adaptive systems in natural, social, and cultural processes. To appreciate the significance of emerging network culture, he claims, it is necessary not only to understand contemporary scientific and technological transformations, but also to explore the subtle influences of art, architecture, philosophy, religion, and education. The Moment of Complexity, then, is a remarkable work of cultural analysis on a scale rarely seen today. To follow its trajectory is to learn how we arrived at this critical moment in our culture, and to know where we might head in the twenty-first century."

On the book's dust jacket, you'll find praise from: John L. Casti, of the Sante Fe Institute; James Gleick, author; William Mitchell, MIT Dean of Architecture; Stephen Jay Gould, author (with multiple guest appearances on _The Simpsons_!); Charles Vest, president of MIT; and others.

_The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Culture_, by Mark C. Taylor

Manuel Castells, author of the contemporary classic _The Information Age_ trilogy, has a new book published by Oxford University Press. It's based on his 2000 Clarendon Lectures in Management at Oxford.

Editorial description:

"A stunning insight into the impact of the Internet and communication technologies on society in the beginning of the twenty-first century. Manuel Castells - one of the world's leading social scientists - puts forward the case that the Internet is not just a technology, but the very fabric and backbone of the New Economy, and of the Network Society. It is essential that we understand its language, its logic, its constraints, and its freedoms in order to manage and to change our reality."

Praise for the book:

"Manuel Castells has proved once again that he has an unmatched synoptic capacity to make sense of the complexities of a networked world, and here writes with clarity and insight about everything from the history of the technology to the subcultures that have done so much to shape it." -- Geoff Mulgan, author of Communications and Control and Connexity Director of the Performance and Innovation Unit, The Cabinet Office and head of the Prime Minister's Forward Strategy Unit

Here's the table of contents:

1. Lessons from the History of the Internet
2. The Internet Culture
3. E-business and the New Economy
4. Virtual Communities or Network Society?
5. The Politics of the Internet (I): Computer Networks, Civil Society and the State
6. The Politics of the Internet (II): Privacy and Liberty in Cyberspace
7. Multimedia and the Internet: The Hypertext beyond Convergence
8. The Geography of the Internet: Networked Places
9. The Digital Divide in Global Perspective
10. Conclusion: The Challenges of the Network Society

Manuel Castells: _Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society_

Inventing Modern America: From the Microwave to the Mouse celebrates the best of American ingenuity and inventiveness. In-depth profiles of 35 inventors tell the often surprising stories of the creation of everyday objects, from Kevlar and the personal computer to the pacemaker. This site explores the life and work of five of these intriguing innovators. Choose one of the inventors' qualities -- courage, insight, know-how, vision, and perseverance -- to find out more. Then check out what you'll find in the rest of the book.

Inventing Modern America: From the Microwave to the Mouse

In this book Bernardo Huberman explains in accessible language the laws of the Web. One of the foremost researchers in the field, Huberman has established, for example, that the surfing patterns of individuals are describable by a precise law. Such findings can lead to more efficient Web design and use. They also shed light on social mechanisms whose significance goes beyond the Web. In this sense, the Web is a gigantic informational ecosystem that can be used to quantify and test explanations of human behavior and social interaction.

The Laws of the Web

Newman shows that his approach gives better estimates than conventional network-tracking methods by looking at scientific collaborations. ... "The most important moral to this story", says Newman, "is that your friends just aren't normal. No one's friends are."

Friends are stranger than strangers

A pre-print from Mark Newman of the Santa Fe Institute. Here's the abstract:

"Recent work has demonstrated that many social networks, and indeed many networks of other types also, have broad distributions of vertex degree. Here we show that this has a substantial impact on the shape of ego-centered networks, i.e., sets of network vertices that are within a given distance of a specified central vertex, the ego. This in turn affects concepts and methods based on ego-centered networks, such as snowball sampling and the "ripple effect". In particular, we argue that one's acquaintances, one's immediate neighbors in the acquaintance network, are far from being a random sample of the population, and that this biases the numbers of neighbors two and more steps away. We demonstrate this concept using data drawn from academic collaboration networks, for which, as we show, current simple theories for the typical size of ego-centered networks give numbers that differ greatly from those measured in reality. We present an improved theoretical model which gives significantly better results."

Ego-centered networks and the ripple effect

In the September issue of Scientific American, a number of articles cast doubt on certain aspects of nanotechnological building blocks promoted by the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing and the Foresight Institute. The organizations have responded with specific rebuttals to these articles and pointers to the previous literature on the subject.

Worth a look. I wonder which side of the debate Bill Joy supports ... if he supports the SciAm view, then is GNR a false threat?

The Scientific American Controversy over Nanotechnology