On Interpreting Scale (or View) and Emergence in Complex Systems Engineering
March 2007
Brian E. White, The MITRE Corporation
ABSTRACT
A human-centric treatment of the
concepts of multi-scale analysis and
emergence in complex systems engineering
(CSE) is offered. This includes an attempt to
characterize what an individual might do in
conceptualizing a given systems engineering
situation s/he is facing. The goal is to suggest
fresh interpretations of the terms scale and
emergence that will contribute to a more
collaborative approach to improving the CSE
practice. Because other authors use "scale" in
several different ways, potentially causing
confusion, this author proposes "view"
instead. Here a given view is defined as a
combination of "scope", "granularity",
"mindset", and "timeframe". Although
"emergence" has a rich spectrum of
definitions in the literature, this author prefers
to emphasize the unexpected, especially
"surprising", flavor of emergence.
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