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4 HN recommenders · recommended in 13 months, 2017–2021
19:10 · 47K views · Oct 15, 2013
Richard Cook's short Velocity 2013 talk on resilience in complex adaptive systems, arguing systems operate near the edge of failure and that the surprise is how rarely they fail. He presents a model of how pressures push systems toward failure boundaries.
HN people cite it constantly as the clearest explanation of normalization of deviance and how complex systems drift toward failure.
15 comments from Hacker News
> I cannot believe that everyone is ethicality challenged The difficult ethical discussion probably never happens. The decisions being made in those meetings are usually seen as small/inconsequential. The problems caused by those "small" decisions are ignored. Eventually those problems become normalized allowing another "small" decision to be made. Humans seem to be very bad at recognizing how a set of "small" decisions eventually add up to major - sometimes shocking[1] - consequences that nobody would have approved if asked directly. Most of the time, nobody realizes just how deviant their situation had become. For a good explanation of the mechanism underlying the normalization of deviance (as an abstract model), I strongly recommend this[2] short talk by Richard Cook. [1] [LINK] [2] this video ("Resilience In Complex Adaptive Systems")
> the staff had become “de-sensitized” to the risk of a serious accident. Yet again serious problems happen due to the Normalization Of Deviance. We really need to find a way to create working conditions that encourage correcting problematic situations immediately before the behavior becomes normalized. Regarding the management/other problems... I encourage everyone in ever industry that is ever involved with safety (i.e. most industries) to see Richard Cook's short talk about "Resilience in Complex Adaptive Systems"[1]. [1] this video
> Indifference that does not cause a business problem remains indifference. More generally, indifference to small "trivial" problems eventually normalizes the deviant behavior[1]. Evil behavior doesn't happen in one step, it's end result of regularly being indifferent to "minor" problems[2]. For a very good explanation of why this happens, I recommend Richard Cook's excellent talk, "Resilience In Complex Adaptive Systems"[3]. [1] [LINK] [2] [LINK] [3] this video
Richard Cook's writing and talks on systems have hugely shaped my thinking on systems. For those interested in more, he gave a highly entertaining talk on system resiliency here and introduces a helpful model. this video I also wrote a post summarizing how I think about Rasmussen’s model in startups and web applications. [LINK]
> But if you stop, they may continue increasing the dilution. There’s a normalization of deviance. For a very good explanation of the mechanism that causes this kind of normalization of deviance, I recommend Richard Cook's outstanding talk "Resilience In Complex Adaptive Systems"[1]. [1] this video