Emergence: A New Source of Failures in Complex Systems

Abstract

The paper focuses on emergent systems, i.e., complex systems for which it is impossible to foresee the overall system’s behavior from the composition/interaction of the single functions/services performed by its components. The lack of knowledge on some aspects of the system, which is the source of the emergence, is an unavoidable aspect that should be explicitly taken into account in all the phases of the system lifecycle. In this paper we introduce the concept of emergence as a new source of failures in complex systems, and we discuss the advantages in considering emergence during requirement specifications, both in terms of perception of the complex systems and in terms of proactive actions to prevent system failures.