W. Brian Arthur

Adaptation doesn’t really exist as a quality on its own. Adaptation lies in having at the ready a repertoire of available responses… Adaptation means having a tool kit of backup preparedness: people, plans, responses, ideas, possibilities, attitudes, and equipment that allow you to construct solutions quickly.

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Adaptation requires a mindset that deals with uncertainty. That’s not a mindset so much of seeking ever-increasing profits and … [ Read more ]

W. Brian Arthur

In a very stable world, where you know the probabilities and the risks, you can optimize. But even in that case, I would counsel against optimizing with a narrow criterion. I don’t think that is ever a good idea, because it brings brittleness to a system. This is because when a system is optimized, all its parts need to work properly, and some are going … [ Read more ]

W. Brian Arthur

In a world where we don’t trust the ground we stand on, what really counts is adaptation or resilience.

Is the Information Revolution Dead?

An insightful comparison and contrast of the recent high-tech boom and bust to previous technological revolutions, with some speculative thoughts about what the future might hold. A good read.