LARGE SYSTEMS SELF-DESTRUCT
Most people believe that whatever is larger than normal is better than normal and is also more efficient. This belief is wrong on both counts. Large systems require more control since there are more parts. Control is the most costly part of any system since it requires more energy to force a change in a part. If there is no control, the part and the system disintegrate and chaos results.
We see this everywhere we look in the Universe. It is particularly evident in large countries and in large corporations and media companies.
WHY DO WE HAVE LARGE SYSTEMS?
The best explanation that explains the formation of large systems is that which describes non-living systems such as clouds or waves.
When we describe living systems such as countries or corporations we must understand that the same forces which produce clouds, waves or mountains still apply.
A GROWING CLOUD
All clouds start out as droplets of water in the form of a gas or vapor. As more and more droplets accumulate, their mass increases and so does their own field of gravity.
Crowds attract Crowds. Many attract More. Silent molecules swirling around collide with other molecules and lose their original direction. The ultimate result is an area of increasing numbers of droplets. External energy in the form of heat forces the molecules to rise above the cooler and slower moving molecules in the immediate environment.
If we carefully watch a cloud form we can see two things: A growing number of droplets; seen as a larger and larger cloud and An ascent vertically, as the increased energy from the hotter air allows the droplets to slowly escape the pull of gravity. The cloud gets bigger and its body rises higher.
Remember these two characteristics because they occur in human systems as well.
Inside the cloud, as the number of droplets increase, their own personal gravity pulls them together and the size of the droplets increases. We might call them droplet families.
Droplet families are heavier than individual droplets; therefore, they do not rise as fast. When their energy is insufficient to break the pull of gravity they begin to fall. As they fall the external heat enters their tiny system and then they rise. We then see large groups of droplet families rising and falling. As they pass each other electrical energy begins to accumulate in a “Static” form.
Ultimately, this “Static” electrical energy will coalesce, it will break free from the cloud and manifest itself in a beautiful formation that we call “Lightning.” The “Lightning” as it passes through the air pushes the air molecules aside. When they return they smash against each other and produce a loud sound which we call “Thunder.”
When we see lightning and hear thunder we know that the droplet families have risen so high and are so large that the force of gravity pulls them to the earth as ‘rain.” Finally all the droplet families fall to the ground as water and the cloud disappears.
Remember this result, because human systems follow exactly the same pattern and have exactly the same finish. Underlying the finally dissolution of the cloud system is the reality that energy is finite and as energy disappears so does all movement.
Human systems also require energy, whether in the saved form known as money or in the active form known as work. When these forms are used up, the human system no longer grows, but, instead, becomes smaller and weaker.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LARGE SYSTEMS AND SMALL SYSTEMS
The larger the system, the more rapidly is the sequence between growing and declining. In addition, the growth is associated with more violent changes.
Control over a large system becomes ineffective since the energy requirement is beyond that available in the environment. A small system can perpetuate itself infinitely. The balance or difference between what is available in the environment and what is needed by the small system is negligible and can easily be overcome in a small system.
SUMMARY
The ultimate reason why small systems are better is that they are more efficient.
Large systems need massive amounts of energy just to control the system. Large systems like thunderstorms make a lot of noise, produce a lot of rain quickly and then disappear.
Human systems behave in exactly the same manner. We are seeing this type of finish in both the large USA and the large EU.
