Solid System

A system with fixed structure, clear boundaries, and resistance to change. Solid systems are the rocks of the conceptual world—stable, predictable, reliable, and utterly inflexible. Once they're set, they stay set until something shatters them. Bureaucracies are solid systems—once the rules are in place, they resist all change until crisis forces collapse. Personal habits are solid systems—they persist despite all evidence they should change. Ideologies are solid systems—they maintain their shape regardless of contradictory information. Solid systems are comforting because they're predictable, but deadly because they can't adapt. The only way to change a solid system is to break it and start over, which is why revolutions are so violent and New Year's resolutions so often fail.