I t is commonplace to say that central control of large complex entities is doomed to fail. We have numerous examples from economies and societies of the past and the present demonstrating inefficiency when the systems exceed a certain size. In the old days, wise emperors were well aware of the problem and answered appropriately by the principle of divide et impera. Nature seems to have an eleg...

hree days after issuing a global alert (1) about cases of atypical pneumonia in several countries in southeast Asia, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the term SARS to the world's lexicon (2). Familiarity with the newly coined acronym for " severe acute respiratory syndrome " was immediate, fueled by fear and by virtually continuous coverage by the media. 1 This intense reaction an...