Fundamentally, any system consists of objects and relationships between these objects. A major goal in ‘systems theory’ concerns the systematic discovery of general patterns or principles that are broadly applicable across a wide range of domains. From this perspective, we investigate the patterns and other relationships that may emerge between computer networks and organizations of human society. Our investigation emphasizes not only that computer networks reflect human society in various ways, but also that new ways of organizing human society inspired (...) by technological structures may be emerging. (shrink)