Web2Summit: Complexity + Tight Coupling = Catastrophe

Paul Kedrosky and Tim O’Reilly just talked about the “Quant Fund Meltdown” and how complex interactions between computer systems and people resulted in unprecedented hedge fund losses. I spend a lot of time thinking about risk and failure in complex systems, and I’ve found Charles Perrow’s “Catastrophic Potential” model to be very useful. It’s pretty straightforward…

Interaction+Coupling

strong>Update: Paul Kedrosky likes Charles Perrow too.

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