Hypernomics

CHAPTER 2Four‐Dimensional Systems

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind‐ bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

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DOT PLOTS BEGIN

As we discovered, maps have played an important part in history. They let us know the limits we face, the competitors we will encounter, and where we might find the nearest markets. Hypernomics sees maps as a crucial and growing field worthy of deep interest and analysis. We will find that economic maps form the backbone of this new discipline. Interestingly, one of the most outstanding achievements in science, and the creation of the field of epidemiology, came about through a particular type of cartography known as “dot‐mapping.”

In late August and early September 1854, the Soho district of London faced a massive cholera outbreak. Over 500 people died within two weeks. A resident, Dr. John Snow, did not subscribe to the then‐current miasma theory, which held that noxious “bad air” caused disease. Snow determined he would find the source of the problem and end it if he could. He plotted the cholera cases, one square dot representing one fatality due to the disease, as shown in Figure 2.1. He found “that nearly all of the deaths had taken place within a short distance” of a pump on Broad (now Broadwick) Street. Authorities turned it off once Snow made them aware of the problem. Cholera deaths, which had slowed with people ...