[dedward]

It's an emergent behaviour of a complex system involving people and machines. What's fascinating is how this non-functional string/ad-hoc netowork beacon, whatever oyu want ot call it, with this specific name, has spread globally to every corner of the world as far as we can tell. Hit any airport or hotel lobby in the world where there are laptops around, and odds are you won't have to wait long before you see "Free Public WiFi" pop up. That, in and of itself, is fascinating. It's been going on for a decade.