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{{a| | {{a|systems|{{image|dancing landscape|jpg|A dancing landscape, yesterday.}}{{subtable|{{complex capsule}}}}}}[[All other things being equal]], a bummer — if you have in mind ''[[risk]]'' — and a boon — if you have in mind ''reward''. A violation of [[Occam’s razor]]; a source of confusion, a time-sink, a material contributor to catastrophic [[normal accident]]s; a ''[[waste]]'' — yet in a [[distributed network]] of autonomous bodies, an ''inevitability''. The more sophisticated the group of individuals, the greater the rate of complexification. | ||
There are those [[Deterministic|determinists]] who see complexity as just a sort of presently-uncalculatable state of a simple algortithm, like [[Conway’s Game of Life]]. We do not agree. | |||
====Complexity as a bummer==== | |||
*Chernobyl | |||
*Space Shuttle Challenger | |||
*Any financial calamity you care to mention | |||
====Complexity as a boon==== | |||
*T’Internet | |||
*The gradual disintermediation of [[information]] from its [[substrate]] | |||
*[[Jacquard loom]] | |||
===[[Complicated]] versus [[complex]]=== | ===[[Complicated]] versus [[complex]]=== | ||
Things can be merely [[complicated]] without being [[complex]]. ''Complicated'' problems are naturally difficult, but you can solve them with rules and [[algorithm]]s. The systems and processes, by which The Man commands and controls employees can manage this kind of ''complicatedness''. | Things can be merely [[complicated]] without being [[complex]]. ''Complicated'' problems are naturally difficult, but you can solve them with rules and [[algorithm]]s. The systems and processes, by which The Man commands and controls employees can manage this kind of ''complicatedness''. | ||
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====Identify your systems==== | ====Identify your systems==== | ||
Is your system simple, complicated or complex? | Is your system simple, complicated or complex? | ||
{{simple capsule}} | {{simple capsule}} | ||
{{complicated capsule}} | {{complicated capsule}} | ||
{{complex capsule}} | {{complex capsule}} | ||
{{sa}} | {{sa}} | ||
*[[Conway’s Game of Life]] | |||
*[[Normal distribution]] | |||
*[[Barnacle]]s | *[[Barnacle]]s | ||
*{{br|Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies}} by the magnificent {{author|Charles Perrow}}. | *{{br|Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies}} by the magnificent {{author|Charles Perrow}}. | ||
{{ref}} | {{ref}} | ||
<references /> | |||