Disordered Cogitations

Irving Wladawsky-Berger (IBM) has a fascinating post on complexity systems as double-edged swords. He cites John Doyle (Cal Tech):

The complexity of technology is exploding around us, but in ways that remain largely hidden. Modern institutions and technologies facilitate robustness and accelerate evolution, but enable catastrophes on a scale unimaginable without them (from network and market crashes to war, epidemics, and climate change).

IWB concludes:

As everything around us becomes increasingly complex - from our global economies, industries and enterprises, to our technological, scientific and medical achievements - it is critical that we better understand the properties of the complex systems that are part of our lives. Only then can we hope to cope with - if not manage - the fragilities that will naturally accompany complexity.

Labels: caltech, complexity, fragility, ibm, iwb