Abstract
Our world today is rife with systems and it’s my bet that no amount of revolutions, IT or social, will rid us of them. Au contraire, all of our efforts are being directed at bigger, better, smarter systems. Special effort is being directed at a kind of system that makes ready use of a plethora of existing or legacy systems, having them work together in new ways forming what people are calling a Systems of Systems (SoS)[1]. These are new wholes greater than, smarter than, and more potent than not only any of the constituent systems but even the sum of them, however sum is defined.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Gorod, A., Sauser, B., Boardman, J.: System of Systems Engineering Management: A Review of Modern History and a Path Forward. IEEE Systems Journal 2(4), 1–16 (2008)
Friedman, T.L.: Hot, flat and crowded
Mitchell Waldrup, M.: Complexity
Checkland, P.B.: Systems Thinking, Systems Practice
Dove, R.: Response Ability: The language, structure and culture of the agile enterprise, http://www.amazon.com/Response-Ability-Language-Structure-Enterprise/dp/0471350184
Fine, C.H.: Clock Speed: Winning Industry Control in the Age of Temporary Advantage. HarperCollins, New York (1998)
Brolick, E.: Presentation to University of Detroit Mercy College of Business Administration Alumni (April 13, 2008), http://www.udmercy.edu/alumni/newsletters/cba/articles/brolick/
Dawkins, R.: The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press, New York (1976)
Kimmel, L.: Lord Nelson and Sea Power (1995), http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3682/nelsonsea.html (adapted with permission)
Wicked problems
Counter intuitive behavior of social systems
Gall, J.: The Systems Bible (See also systems bible and systemantics)
Gleick, J.: Chaos: Making a new science, http://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Making-Science-James-Gleick/dp/0140092501
Granovetter, M.: The strength of weak ties. Amer. J. of Soc. 78, 1360–1380 (1973)
Watts, D.: Six Degrees. Vintage, New York (2004)
Watts, D.J., Strogatz, S.H.: Collective dynamics of small world networks. Nature 393, 440–442 (1998)
See, for example, http://www.dartmouth.edu/~dujs/2000S/06-Biolumen.pdf
Buchanan, M.: Nexus, p. 64. Norton, New York (2002)
Buchanan, M.: Nexus, p. 103. Norton, New York (2002)
Barabasi, A.-L.: Linked. Penguin, New York (2003)
Don’t Stop Me Now is a 1979 hit single by Queen, from their 1978 album Jazz. Words and music by Freddie Mercury
Barabasi, A.-L.: Linked: how everything is connected to everything else and what it means, http://www.amazon.com/Linked-Everything-Connected-Else-Means/dp/0452284392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228160824&sr=1-1
Kiyosaki, R.T., Sharon, L.L.: Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money–That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! Business Plus, New York (2000)
Negroponte, N.: Being Digital. Vintage, New York (1996)
The Holy Bible, 1st Book of Samuel, ch. 17
Bacevich, A.: Limits to Power
Bunyan, J.: Pilgrim’s Progress
Gerstner, L.: Farewell IBM
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering
About this paper
Cite this paper
Boardman, J. (2009). The Primacy of Paradox. In: Ulieru, M., Palensky, P., Doursat, R. (eds) IT Revolutions. IT Revolutions 2008. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 11. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03978-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03978-2_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-03977-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-03978-2
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)