An Introduction to Complex Systems Science and Its Applications

Figure 3

The complexity profile of a factory that can produce a large number of copies of a few types of goods, and the complexity profile of a factory that can produce many types of goods but not in large numbers. The number of copies of a good produced is a proxy for scale since, given a fixed technology, mass production requires larger-scale coordinated action in the factory (e.g., an assembly line). The number of different types of goods that can be produced at a given scale is a proxy for the number of different possible behaviors of the factory—and thus its complexity—at that scale.