How do “parts” impact a system?
The human body is a complex system of systems that comes together to achieve common goals. Like any other system, it is a coalition of many parts that come together to form a ‘whole’. Although the human body as a system is way more complex, as some of the parts form a system of their own. The following is an attempt at understanding the impact of these parts on the whole system, staying in the context of the human body.
Addition of New Parts :
An interesting observation is, what happens to this system when you introduce foreign elements to it? For instance, a simple visual aid such as spectacles or contact lenses can be used to correct dysfunctional eyes that arent able to achieve their end goal. But does this ‘External element’ then become a part of the system?
If we were to remove this external element, the whole equilibrium will be disturbed again and the system won’t be able to achieve its goal. So, by this logic, something which was once a foreign element now becomes an integral part of the system without which the end goal can’t be achieved. Another interesting observation is what happens to the boundaries of the system by this addition. Since the new element becomes a crucial part of the system it also leads to an extension of the boundaries of the system. And it also becomes an intersection point of another system with that of the human body, i.e. the system of ideation and production of such external elements.
Replacement of Non-Functioning parts :
When a part is so damaged or dysfunctional that you have to remove it in order to preserve the rest of the system, how can system goals be met in such a scenario? An example of this, in the context of the human body, can be ‘Prosthetics’.
A seriously severed limb is a threat to the entire system as it can lead to infections and failure of several other systems. So the best solution in such a case would be to remove the non-functional part and install a suitable replacement. We can observe that over time the whole system adapts to this new replacement and develops a whole new character that was non-existent before. Such changes are often difficult to predict beforehand and hence an observation and adjustment protocol needs to be followed over time such as in cases of organ replacements.
System Generated Elements :
If we look at the human body as a system and if we look at diseases like cancer, we realize that complex systems can often over-time develop there own elements that give them a unique character. This becomes quite evident if we look at the human brain and mind and how it gives birth to such diverse personalities and complex behaviors. But sometimes these new elements can also function against the system itself, for instance, addictions or if we take a more physical example, tumors.
In the above example, a bone tumor that developed within the system starts to function against the system itself, and in order to cure this problem the solution can also be found in the system itself by extracting the problematic part and replacing it with something from within the system, that can over time take its place and reinstate equilibrium. But like any system design problem, this can have multiple solutions, including the addition of a new part or replacement with a new part, such as artificial bone fillings.
Conclusion :
So to conclude, by taking the human body as an example of a system of systems, we can understand how complex systems come together to form a web of different parts in order to achieve one goal. And how every part plays a crucial role in the functioning of the entire system. Often times it might seem that the best solution to any systems problem would be to replace the parts causing the problem with the ‘best’ available alternatives, but it is not as simple as it seems on the surface, as sometimes the solution can be not replacing the part at all.
