For the second time in human history, we are on the verge of broad new breakthroughs in health, productivity, and personal freedom. And many-to-many networks are the reason. In business, government, and war, information is no longer the privilege of a powerful few. Now everyone knows what anyone knows, and we are applying that diversity of experience and perspective to expand the frontiers of our lives. We are starting to think together. The age of hierarchical organizations has ended. Social media networks, online forums, and guerilla broadcasting are connecting us in communities with fewer bureaucratic layers. In swarms, walkouts, strikes, and insurrections, people are sharing experience directly in real time, marching together into the public square, and demanding a greater voice in the new democracy. Networks Rising is the colorful story of unsung technology wizards waving us on, of philosophers struggling to free us from the dictates of church and state, and of sociologists, futurists, and even science fiction writers offering dozens of new schemes for living in a more connected world. At a time when so many of our institutions seem deeply challenged, we are actually poised at the beginning of what might be humanity's greatest leap forward in 25,000 years.
