I'm surprised no one mentioned cybernetics yet. Author's premise seems to be that digital, centrally controlled systems are becoming pieces of systems made up o

I'm surprised no one mentioned cybernetics yet. Author's premise seems to be that digital, centrally controlled systems are becoming pieces of systems made up of self-regulating sets of feedback loops. The idea certainly isn't new, having been written about in the '50s in Stanisław Lem's "Dialogi". The observation about digital systems is certainly fresh though.