[SystemSafety] Examples of Emergent Safety-Related Properties

[Peter Bernard Ladkin]

Folks,

the IET is producing a FactFile (a free on-line guidance document) on managing safety in the 
development of complex systems. What distinguishes complex systems in this respect from simpler 
systems are the emergent properties that emerge from the often-unanticipated interactions of components.

For the FactFile, I am looking for examples. The standard one is murmurations of starlings, which 
has an analogy to the management of drone swarms. Then there is John Conway's game of Life, which 
turns out not only self-reproducing animations but is also Turing Complete (an emergent property not 
yet known to many Life lovers). Then there is the Boeing 737 MAX. The HazAn is public (thanks to the 
Congressional investigation) and made the assumption that an MCAS fault could lead to a runaway 
pitch trim, which the pilots were supposed to be able to counter by pulling the circuit breaker and 
manually(mechanically) retrimming. This action turns (turned) out not to be appropriate, it being 
almost impossible to mechanically retrim under the condition of strong forces on pitch control. This 
is a phenomenon known already in the 1960's but seemingly overlooked by newer generations of 
designers and flyers.

Does anyone have more good examples of safety-related emergent properties that we could put in the 
FactFile?

PBL

Prof. i.R. Dr. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Bielefeld, Germany
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs-bi.de




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