No, really. A City Is Not A Tree. Really. DryerLint pointed this one out - probably in the hope that someone else who is sane would notice it as well. So now 2 sane people know about it, maybe more.
A successful complex system should be a semi-lattice - think about it. Every object should have multiple purposes. For example, here - outside the Asylum - I write notes so that other sane people can read them. And sane people read these notes. So the site serves at least 2 purposes. Other sane people who are registered can also write notes to other sane people. And insane people can also read all of these notes, but they aren’t permitted to write anything outside the Asylum. But this is a rather simple thing.
Consider your body. No, not that part. Pay attention.
Consider blood. Blood is a very versatile fluid. It carries red blood cells (erythrocytes) around so that they can carry CO2 out of the body, and put O2 into the body, from the lungs. That’s a neat trick by itself. But it also does other things, like help regulate body temperature throughout the body. It also carries nasty by products to the kidneys which, when functioning properly, feed the bladder what shouldn’t be in there. Nutrients are passed into the bloodstream as well, and handed out to every little hungry cell that it can find (pity the last cell to get fed!). No wonder they have banks for the stuff.
Consider the ears. Not just hearing - balance as well. Nifty organ, the ear. Very small bones in it, and a little percussion instrument sitting around.
A semi-lattice is less prone to single point failures since there’s distribution, and therefore routing. Think about it.
© 2008 eAsylum.