NETWORK (Random)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2271 ▶ |
| Object type | Methodology or model |
It has been defined as a network in which all nodes have about the same number of links . However, G. PASK quite to the point, wrote as early as 1961: “I do not condone a lot of loose talk about 'random networks'. Random network should mean a very definite initial structure determined by a random number table, presumably because the initial structure does not affect those features of behaviour that interest us, providing the behaviour is averaged over an ensemble of artifacts” (1961, p.84).
A fully random network should not present any constraint at all and thus be totally unpredictable, even in the statistical sense of a Markovian system. Such a network could not learn, not lead to any organizational closure… and, after all, could not be a network at all.
Practically however, randomness is always framed within some determining constraints.