Emergence, 3(4), 32--49

rtly by their own previous actions, modern bureaucrats and politicians are adept at using this as further evidence for the need for yet more "rational" intervention and control; a more refined and careful use of "improved" technology ... the poison is also the cure. Complexity thinking forces us to review our conceptions of what natural boundaries are. Are they real in some absolute sense? Or are they no more than, and no less than, social constructs? Are some boundaries more real than others? Or are all boundaries equal? It should be noted that we use the term "natural" in its broadest sense. We are not merely concerned with atoms and molecules, which is how physicists traditionally apply the term. We are concerned also with the boundaries that describe organizations, departments, and teams. Some scholars would argue that the boundaries that delimit such "objects" are far from "natural," being no more than mental constructs. However...