New Books in Science, Technology, and Society Anthony Bonato, "Dots and Lines: Hidden Networks in Social Media, AI, and Nature" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2025)
Sep 3, 2025
In a fascinating discussion, Anthony Bonato, a mathematics professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and author of 'Dots and Lines,' unpacks the hidden networks that influence every aspect of our lives. He explores how network theory reveals patterns in social media, AI, and even nature, shedding light on political strategies and survival tactics in reality shows. Bonato highlights the evolution of tools like Google’s PageRank and the significance of small world networks, illustrating their profound impact on connections in our society.
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PageRank Treats Popularity As Infectious
- PageRank ranks pages by popularity and influential backlinks, not just text frequency.
- It models popularity as infectious: links from popular nodes boost a page's score.
Erdős And Bacon Connect Worlds
- Bonato shared his Erdős number story: he is Erdős number two through a collaborator.
- He linked actor Bacon numbers and Erdős numbers to show small-world effects across domains.
Burning Models Meme And Epidemic Spread
- The burning model simulates memes or contagions that start, spread, and reappear elsewhere.
- It captures epidemic-like spread including local propagation and random long-range jumps.
