John Naughton, writing in the Guardian, has penned a wonderful, must-read article about the Internet and its place in our lives. Really, this is fifteen minutes worth of reading that will change the way you look at network technology and the world. Nine things that are Everything You Need To Know About The Internet:
5 COMPLEXITY IS THE NEW REALITY
Even if you don’t accept the ecological metaphor, there’s no doubt that our emerging information environment is more complex – in terms of numbers of participants, the density of interactions between them, and the pace of change – than anything that has gone before. This complexity is not an aberration or something to be wished away: it’s the new reality, and one that we have to address. This is a challenge, for several reasons. First, the behaviour of complex systems is often difficult to understand and even harder to predict. Second, and more importantly, our collective mindsets in industry and government are not well adapted for dealing with complexity. Traditionally, organisations have tried to deal with the problem by reducing complexity – acquiring competitors, locking in customers, producing standardised products and services, etc. These strategies are unlikely to work in our emerging environment, where intelligence, agility, responsiveness and a willingness to experiment (and fail) provide better strategies for dealing with what the networked environment will throw at you.
Another bullet point: Disruption Is A Feature, Not A Bug.
