At 12:30 PM 9/3/98 -0400, Tom J. Clifford wrote:
>In any case, some knowledge database or system of codifying organizational
>knowledge and interaction could help with behavior, but without the rudder
>of belief in what is right, people will be too tempted to merely do the
>right thing (for them or their part of the organization, ignoring the
>effect on other parts).
It is far from clear that 'each part of the organization doing what is
right for itself' is a bad thing. I think Stuart Kauffman, in "At Home In
the Universe" describes the idea of "patches" as a way for an organization
to adapt efficiently to a fitness landscape. Each group ("patch") does
what it sees as best for itself, while at the same time watching to see
what works for others. When a patch finds a good solution, it changes the
problem faced by neighbors. In a nutshell, this sort of
intermediate-level structure appears to be a short path to reasonable
compromise among the varying interests of the patches, which makes the
whole system more efficient. A patch can cover enough of the landscape to
avoid getting hung up on a local high point that really isn't a good
adaptation overall, even though it seems to satisfy the global goals.
Coupling it to adjacent patches essentially shares the information about
how high the patch's local high point is, so there's some communication
across the landscape that helps optimize adaptation.
If you're familiar with simulated annealing, Kauffman compares patches to
"raising the temperature" in the annealing process. The patches co-evolve,
so that even though they might do things that are contrary to the
interests of the whole, the whole learns "more" than it would if central
control were in place.
I think I introduced myself to the list months ago, but I've been lurking
for the the last couple of months while dealing with a family emergency.
In the meantime, I've re-titled the book I'm working on, which will deal
in part with such issues, to "Metanoia: The Co-Evolution of Thought and
Technology."
Nick
--Nick Arnett <listbot@mccmedia.com>
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