DISQUS

"But there is a certain elegance to the fact that existing laws provide some competitive check on the marketplace without the need for government regulation or an antitrust lawsuit."

Existing laws *are* government regulation.

You are correct in that such graphs are difficult to interpret. What can be inferred from such a graph depends crucially on the definition of an "edge," which in this case (and as discussed towards the end of my article) indicates that two people published a paper or article together, a much stronger indicator of concordant ideas than mere "palling around with."

I also placed edges between people who were at the same institution at the same time, which is a much more tenuous intellectual connection; in a future version of the graph I am going to represent organizations as their own nodes, which should help clarify the difference between "worked at with" and "co-authored with."

Nonetheless interpretation is subtle with such graphs, something that I am sensitive to as an epistemology geek. The the analysis I came away with in this case was the result of reading all the articles and papers that I found in the course of discovering the edges in the graph. The graph is a just map, an indication of where to look -- and I don't think anyone seriously disputes that CNAS is a good place to look for current COIN policy. Starting from near zero, I think it is illuminating that an outsider could identify the centers of gravity with such an exercise.

It has also been pointed out that (typos aside) that this graph is very incomplete. True. I spent a number of days on the project, but there were limits to the time I could invest in this very manual plotting process. As you might imagine, I have already received many suggestions for people to add to the graph, and plan to update it in the future.

- Jonathan

Impressive, but it would be a more powerful pedagogical tool if he also explained how he did it. It's not enough to deconstruct someone's belief systems, you have to give them a new one if it's going to stick.

Impressive, but it would be a more powerful pedagogical tool if he also explained how he did it. It's not enough to deconstruct someone's belief systems, you have to give them a new one if it's going to stick.

"Existence itself may be considered an abyss possessed of no meaning. I do not read this as a pessimistic statement. If it be true, then I can see in it nothing else but a declaration of autonomy for my imagination & will– & for the most beautiful act they can conceive with which to bestow meaning upon existence."

<ul>
<li>Hakim Bey, "Against The Reproduction of Death"</li>
</ul>

"Existence itself may be considered an abyss possessed of no meaning. I do not read this as a pessimistic statement. If it be true, then I can see in it nothing else but a declaration of autonomy for my imagination & will– & for the most beautiful act they can conceive with which to bestow meaning upon existence."

<ul>
<li>Hakim Bey, "Against The Reproduction of Death"</li>
</ul>