We have seen it work in social structures since the beginning of civilization. We see its power today in areas as diverse as our communities, science and engineering partnerships, and teams in any field of sports. Something new happens in this integration process. A singular or separate dynamic emerges from the interaction. They can only recognize that something better or more enhanced comes out on the other side.
Holism creates supportive space where taking risks and challenging the unquestionable is acceptable.
Holism engenders elucidation, the discovery of your own knowledge transformed by other perspectives. Although holism is an ancient dynamic, what is new is that it can be applied to the vast accumulated knowledge of science and engineering and the new knowledge that is burgeoning as we speak. So when we train ourselves to think about complexity and holism as two sides of a coin, we develop a pattern or attitude to search for the disordered fringes of a field and to pick out fragments of possibility. With these pieces of potential, different 'wholes' can be created in new integration. The possibilities are endless when you think about the flexible building power that nanotechnology will provide, the enormous insight from research in cognition, and the ratcheting up of speed that terascale computing offers.