The Inter-connectedness of Seemingly Trivial Things

I recently came across the following piece (www.SuperHub.com/PrietoPaper.pdf) on the vulnerability of tightly coupled systems that can go unidentified for a very long time. What may look like random events or issues can actually be highly coupled.

Take the simple example of a fire in a small building outside of Chicago that disrupted telephone service for much of the country. Why? Because "It seems that most transcontinental land-lines passed through that single building and they were destroyed in the fire." Excuse me? How could somebody not know, or know and not do something about, that vulnerability? And, why did the price of anti-freeze go up 300% a while back? Turns out ethylene glycol was made in only two places in the US and one of them, a small plant in Idaho, burned down with the obvious result.

You'll enjoy this article; it's short and punchy and can help you ask questions that could potentially illuminate a blind spot, or two.