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Essay
Nature 445, 489 (1 February 2007) | doi:10.1038/445489a; Published online 31 January 2007
Connections A twenty-first century science
Duncan J. Watts1
- Duncan J. Watts is at the Department of Sociology and the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, Columbia University 420 W. 118th Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10027, USA.
Abstract
If handled appropriately, data about Internet-based communication and interactivity could revolutionize our understanding of collective human behaviour.
Few would deny that many of the major problems currently facing humanity are social and economic in nature. From the apparent wave of religious fundamentalism sweeping the Islamic world (and parts of the Western world), to collective economic security, global warming and the great epidemics of our times, powerful yet mysterious social forces come into play.
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