Cars have networks.
Planes have networks.
Factories have networks.
Space ships have networks.
A few people wear networks.
There is speculation on networks within the body.
RapidIO is a proposal for a
standard network connecting parts of a computer system.
Many networks architectures will be invented in the next few decades.
Usually these networks are designed by a group who initially imagine
that they will control all of the applications within.
Often the network is so successful that applications proliferate
and no one can comprehend the whole.
That is just where a capitalistic economy thrives.
Capability security, or perhaps some other principle,
can protect one enterprise from another and allow each its own realm within
which to maintain its own integrity and provide service to others;
perhaps to become an independent money making entity.
The natural world evolved without such protection in place.
Predation was the dominate rule for emergence of new species (I think).
Social species evolved to respect rights of other members,
eventually even property rights.
Division of labor within a tribe increased efficiency of the tribe.
Trade, then capitalism emerged, topsy-turvy, and spread this
division of labor beyond the tribe.
Think little bugs with the intelligence of a bacterium, but with
spending money and a hard shell.