New Books in Technology Anthony Bonato, "Dots and Lines: Hidden Networks in Social Media, AI, and Nature" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2025)
Sep 3, 2025
In this engaging discussion, mathematician Anthony Bonato, a professor specializing in graph theory, reveals the hidden world of networks that shapes our lives from social media to nature. He explores how network dynamics influence political messaging on Twitter and even predict winners in reality shows like Survivor. Bonato shares fascinating insights on community detection, small-world networks, and the interplay between network science and AI. Expect to learn how simple dots and lines unveil the complexities of our interconnected world!
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Networks Model Interactions Everywhere
- Networks model interactions: nodes are objects and edges measure their interactions across domains.
- Anthony Bonato argues networks reveal hidden structure in phenomena from bees pollinating flowers to social media follows.
T-Shirt Sparked A Math Debate
- Bonato wore a T-shirt saying 'zero is a natural number' and sparked a lively debate at a conference.
- He used that episode to justify starting his book with Chapter 0 as a playful math nod.
Karate Club Revealed Community Formation
- The Zachary Karate Club study captured a real-time community split when a feud broke the club into two factions.
- Bonato highlights it as a foundational example of how communities emerge and are detected in networks.
