Ploshchad' i bashnia. Seti i vlast' ot masonov do Facebook - Fergiuson Nial

The tower is a clear symbol of any hierarchy: those from below support and obey those above them. And so to the "upper floors." The square is an understandable image of the network, the relationship in which is absolutely the opposite of what we can observe in the hierarchies. It's a plane, not a vertical plane. Hierarchical relations have always aroused the primary interest of historians: the structure of states, the family tree of monarchs, a lot of archival documents. Conversely, "networks" often leave no trace in the history, but sometimes have no less and sometimes greater influence on it, radically changing its course. The famous British historian Niall Fergusson shows how the "tower" and "square" coexisted throughout human history and what changes two "network eras" made: the first, which followed the advent of the printing press in Europe, and the second - began in the 1970s, with the silicon valley technological revolution.