DOI

Summary
Nobel laureate Herbert A. Simon wrote this article in 1962, in which the rivelatory concept was that hierarchic systems have some common properties that are independent of their specific content. For this reason, according to Simon, if we look at complexity as an architecture (or as an architect), one of its basic structures is hierarchy, which can be examined from four different viewpoints: frequency, relative time, dynamic properties / decomposition, and relations between complex systems and their descriptions.

Simon first observes that hierarchy occurs in complexity with great frequency. Complex systems, he points out, are made up of subsystems, each with their own subsystems, until eventually, some elementary particle level is reached. This could be atoms, cells or even stars, depending on what is being studied. However, it should be mentioned that in most systems in nature, it is somewhat arbitrary as to where we stop subdividing, and what subsystems we posit to be elementary.
PD

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge

Point of Strength
like all complex systems, in which the whole is more than the sum of the parts, the idea of a hierarchic structure, in which the interrelated subsystems are also hierarchic until reaching a base elementary level, signifies that the “whole” can be pragmatically inferred by examining the properties and the laws of the interaction of the parts. This has become a keystone of complex systems theory. Searching for the architecture, the (inter)dependencies and the interaction between subsystems is more and more crucial to complexity modeling.