Managing complexity and uncertainty

Abstract

Modem fields of science and engineering have evolved remarkably high degrees of specialization. The present division of intellectual labor is structured by the assumption that complex systems can be "vertically" decomposed into layers of materials and devices versus the systems they compose. A further assumption is that each layer is further "horizontally" divided into chemical, mechanical, and electrical materials/devices as well as processing, communication, computation, and control systems. A central cause of the fragmentation of complex systems into isolated subdisciplines has traditionally been the inherent intractability of problems that require integration of, say, communications, computation, and control. This has necessitated specialized and domain-specific assumptions and methods that can appear arbitrary and ad hoc to researchers in other subdomains. The power of this decomposition is that it has facilitated a massively parallel development of advanced technologies, the proliferation of sophisticated domain-specific theories, allowing each subdiscipline to function independently, with only higher level system integrators required to be generalists. An increasingly troublesome side-effect is a growing intellectual Tower of Babel where experts within one subdiscipline can rarely have meaningful contact with experts from other subdisciplines, and may even be largely unaware of their existence. For example, the term "information" is used by everyone, but often has not just different but almost opposite meanings in, say, communications, computing, or controls systems, let alone between systems and devices.