Thisbook describes the struggle to introduce a mechanism that enablesnext-generation information systems to maintain themselves. Our generationobserved the birth and growth of information systems, and the Internet inparticular. Surprisingly information systems are quite different fromconventional (energy, material-intensive) artificial systems, and ratherresemble biological systems (information-intensive systems). Many artificialsystems are designed based on (Newtonian) physics assuming that every elementobeys simple and static rules; however, the experience of the Internet suggestsa different way of designing where growth cannot be controlled butself-organized with autonomous and selfish agents. This book suggests using gametheory, a mechanism design inparticular, for designing next-generation information systems which will beself-organized by collective acts with autonomous components. The challenge of mapping a probability to time appears repeatedly in many forms throughoutthis book. The book contains interdisciplinaryresearch encompassing game theory, complex systems, reliability theory andparticle physics. All devoted to its central theme: what happens ifsystems self-repair themselves?
