From: Joi Ito Sent: Sunday, une , : M To: Jeffrey Epstein Subject: Re: Not your old age question? -) It's like Jeopardy except that Watson won't have the =nswer. One of my faculty, Cesar Hidalgo, recently wrote a book called "Why =nformation Grows". =ttp://www.amazon.com/Why-Information-Grows-Evolution-Economies/dp/0465048.94 I haven't read it yet, but I've had some conversations =ith him. He's trying to approach it from a physics perspective =nd agues that life is "information" and "order". =ot sure this is right. "What is economic growth? And why, historically, has it occurred in only = few places? Previous efforts to answer these questions have focused on =nstitutions, geography, finances, and psychology. But according to =lT's antidisciplinarian Cesar Hidalgo, understanding the nature of =conomic growth demands transcending the social sciences and including =he natural sciences of information, networks, and complexity. To =nderstand the growth of economies, Hidalgo argues, we first need to =nderstand the growth of order. At first glance, the universe seems hostile to order. Thermodynamics =ictates that over time, order--or information--will disappear. Whispers =anish in the wind just like the beauty of swirling cigarette smoke =ollapses into disorderly clouds. But thermodynamics also has loopholes =hat promote the growth of information in pockets. Our cities are =ockets where information grows, but they are not all the same. For =very Silicon Valley, Tokyo, and Paris, there are dozens of places with =conomies that accomplish little more than pulling rocks off the ground. =o, why does the US economy outstrip Brazil's, and Brazil's that of =had? Why did the technology corridor along Boston's Route 128 languish =hile Silicon Valley blossomed? In each case, the key is how people, =irms, and the networks they form make use of information. Seen from Hidalgo's vantage, economies become distributed computers, =ade of networks of people, and