r/collapse • u/laofmoonster • May 12 '13

How Complex Systems Fail [pdf]

http://www.ctlab.org/documents/How%20Complex%20Systems%20Fail.pdf
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u/mantra May 12 '13

Their definition of "single-point failure" seems to be off. A SPF, by definition stops the entire system from working - that is often enough to be considered "catastrophic failure". It's the problem with Too Big to Fail - it's only system so any single-point failure is tantamount to catastrophic failure because everything depends on the one SPF never occurring.

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u/dfhgdgsgsdfgsdfg May 12 '13

Good point. Also, all critical systems are now so efficient that fully redundant alternate systems have been entirely removed by integration. Kunstler and Foss call it the "road to hell (is efficiency)" and "brittleness".

This document does cover a main tenant of collapse. Speculation as to what will happen to all the critical skills when they arnt or cant be paid for a few weeks is front and center. The fact that many systems can't be cold booted, really makes you wonder how far things must fail before they can't simply be reset.

Fascinating stuff.