Complexity Digest 2003.09 - 01.02

03-Mar-2003

With 6 Degrees of Separation, Computers Stay in Sync, NYTimes Bookmark and Share

Excerpts: Their model, (...), shows that synchronization can be achieved by having processors occasionally and randomly check what some other processor in the system is doing. Indeed, (...), it is not even necessary for every processor to take part in the random checks. A system will still stay synchronized even with a few layabouts. The randomness of the checks is a key. In effect, it ensures that synchronization is spread throughout the parallel system. (...) But the system departs from human links in a significant way: it does not have hubs (...).