Socio-technical complex systems of systems: Can we justifiably trust their resilience?

Abstract

This paper does not provide any solutions. It is the author's view on the limitations of statistical evaluation methods for providing meaningful numerical measurements when dealing with socio-technical complex systems of systems. I discuss the need to rethink many, if not all, aspects of the current design and evaluation paradigms when addressing the design, deployment, governance and operation of pervasive, ubiquitous systems that manage sensitive information with a huge multitude of untrained users in changing environments. The main focus is on the impossibility of anticipating situations and events that we are completely ignorant - or unaware - of in terms of their existence, likelihood, manifestation and consequences. The paper stresses the need for a multi-view resilience-centred holistic approach based on multi-disciplinary experiences. Finally it provides some common sense suggestions on what can be done. I hope at least it will help to instigate a lively discussion on this topic. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.