THENETWORKECONOMY

Index of networks

Seven upgrades. One story.

Every era is a new way humans learned to coordinate power, resources, influence and intelligence. Hover an era to watch the network rewire itself.

I

c. 200,000 BCE

The Family Network

Kinship — the first trust protocol

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  • Ep 1.1 · Ancient Conditions Which Forced The Family Network
II

10,000 – 500 BCE

Tribes & City-States

Agriculture, walls and the first ledgers

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III

500 BCE – 1791

Trade Routes

Silk, salt, spice — the first global graph

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IV

1792 – 1890

The Creation of the Dollar

Banknotes, greenbacks and clearinghouses

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  • Ep 2.1 · The Creation Of The Dollar
V

1891 – 1968

Card Payment Networks

Traveler's cheques to tap-to-pay rails

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VI

1969 – 2019

The Internet

Packets, protocols and planetary reach

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VII

2020 – NOW

The Intelligence Network

When the network starts to think

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