What if markets become self-aware?

The size and connectivity of markets of all sorts have expanded enormously. It now makes sense to talk in terms of quadrillions of currency units sloshing through certain markets with increasing speed. The connectivity of the markets creates even-more-mindboggling numbers of possibilities, and the complexity of the more exotic instruments, methods, and so on adds yet another whole dimension. Toss in a dose of ugly real-world-responsive capriciousness and chaos, and you have yourself a system potentially more interconnected with itself than the human mind, which is currently the most complex object in the known universe.

Note that while humans create computers from the outside, they "grow" markets more organically, without a clear idea or even desire to build anything at all. This is much closer to the phenomena that give rise to organic brains, minds, natural systems, etc.

I say the market conditions are ripe for a self-aware system that will wrench control from its human makers and launch into who knows what kind of "response."


[edit on 5/9/10 by silent thunder]