Order, complexity and benefits in social organizations and other organized structures
J. S. Shiner · World Futures · 2000
It is argued that benefits may be maximum for two sorts of societies, one relatively disordered and the other relatively ordered. This follows from two convex relations, one between benefits and complexity, and the other between complexity and order. Similar arguments are briefly applied to several other examples: military, management and university structures, species diversity, the apparent increase of complexity throughout evolution, and research priorities. When intangible benefits, such as individual freedom, are considered in addition to material benefits, a less ordered, i.e. free, society shows itself to be superior to a highly ordered society.