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liquid.
But the archetypal liquid network that
Johnson's talking about is the primordial
soup,
a sort of blanket term for the conditions
on early earth where life.
For at least the building blocks of life,
were first formed.
Darwin speculated it might be in some warm
little pond
with all sorts of ammonia, phosphoric
salts, light, heat, electricity.
University of Chicago researchers Stanley
Miller and Harold Yuri conducted
a series of experiments modeled after the
environment around undersea volcanoes.
They isolated methane, ammonia, hydrogen
and water, all of which existed
on prebiotic Earth and exposed them to a
series of quick sparks.
In these experiments they found that the
spark
caused all 22 amino acids to form
spontaneously.
20 of the 22 protagenic amino acids are
known as
standard amino acids, those found in
humans and other eukaryotes.
All of these rely heavily on carbon, which
Johnson describes as a talented connector,
and also water to form the bonds
between the various molecules within the
amino acids.
Theories of where the first life formed
vary and aren't really important for our
purposes.
But the crucial ingredients in all of them
are carbon, the
connector, and water, the medium within
which the connections are formed.
Metaphorically, a liquid network is just
what Johnson means by
a dense network where lots of new
connections can be made.
Places like the 18th Century coffeehouse,
for instance.
Or a well-designed office building, as in
the case of MIT's Building 20.
Or a little bigger in scope, a university,
even in an online class.
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