The 2008 world economic crisis, revolts throughout the Middle East and the release of thousands of documents into the public domain were all made "more viral" in today's overconnected, internet-driven world, Davidow said.
"The internet has added a fourth dimension to our lives," Davidow said. "The high priests of our society, regulators and government officials and the individuals do not realize the implications of that fourth dimension."
Overconnectivity presents issues in social and economic spheres through "positive feedback loops," in which any change in a system leads to more change, Davidow said. The more interconnected our society becomes, the more rapidly connections are created and the more we become dependent on those connections, according to Davidow.
Because the internet allows connections to be created so easily, institutions must adapt to a changed society, Davidow said.
"Your environment consists of the things to which you are connected," he said. "If I increase that number, you go through an abrupt environmental change."
Recent problems in the bookstore and newspaper industries, are caused by overconnectivity and the inability to adapt to a more interconnected society, according to Davidow.
In the stock market, the internet has enabled high frequency trading, Davidow said. This style of trading, essentially "electronic brains trying to trick other electronic brains," creates liquidity in the market and makes the market more volatile, he said. High frequency trading is to blame for the sharp swings in the market on May 6 of last year, according to Davidow.
"If you take a complex system and unleash a lot of positive feedback, it drives things to extremes," he said. "It creates accidents."
Davidow also attributed the loss of privacy in today's overconnected world to positive feedback loops. While knowing a person's name is not very valuable, when it is combined with other pieces of information such as an address, telephone number and internet browsing history companies can use such data irresponsibly, Davidow said.
Choice Point, a private data collection company, has roughly one megabyte of information about every economically active person in the United States, Davidow said.
"Choice Point is able to do things that the government is forbidden to do by the Privacy Act of 1974, [so] the FBI and the CIA have outsourced their data collection program," he said.
Overconnectivity also affects people on both the social and neurological levels, as internet addiction will soon be defined as a behavior disorder, according to Davidow.
"For those of use who are constantly being interrupted by bells on our computers, we're probably enjoying dopamine releases," he said.
Davidow made a distinction between "digital natives and digital immigrants" by noting an increased amount of antisocial behavior among individuals growing up in the overconnected age.
The Thayer School of Engineering invited Davidow to speak last spring, according to Jeanne West, an associate dean for development and external relations at Thayer.
"This whole question of being an overconnected world, of how the internet can be so impactful of political and economic systems, it's a very interesting topic for our students," West said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
The speech, scheduled to occur in Zaleski Auditorium, was moved to Spanos Auditorium directly prior to the event due to its high attendance.
