Connections and Complexity
Network effects had been neglected for quite a long time. The classical “reductionist” view of the world was simply this: if we understand the rules that govern the pieces of the universe, then we can easily deduce large-scale behaviors. The past century has shown that this is wishful thinking at best.
Much has now been said about the level of complexity that interconnections among simple components introduce. This appreciation for network effects has not yet been exploited for engineering purposes fully. The old reductionist views still dominate in most engineering disciplines. The same is true about other practical arts; we do not yet have good ways of purposefully exploiting network-introduced complexity.
The reasons for this neglect are deep. To exploit the kind of complexity that network connections bring about we need to look at design differently. We need to view design as guidance instead of control. Complex systems do not respond well to direct control; they can, however, be guided and steered. We know very little about techniques to do this kind of guidance and control effectively.
Japanese Zen Garden (National Geographic)
There is one group, though, that has been struggling with these methods for some time: teachers and trainers. Living systems, especially people and groups of people, present exactly the kind of complexity that requires guidance and steering. Unfortunately, the track record for teaching and training is not stellar.
Perhaps the most effective of trainers have been spiritual teachers, for example Zen masters. Zen spiritual leaders have instinctively understood that guiding a complex mind requires meticulous attention to the environment. These environments are arranged to evoke the proper frames of mind that encourage the right mental changes.
We should start thinking of the machines we build as potential trainees and students. Our task is to design into them the kind of complexity that can be guided as we need. If a machine is simple enough to be controlled directly (“programmed”), then it’s probably too simple to do anything really interesting.
