The Danger Of Over-Efficiency

This drive for efficiency leads to brittle systems that function properly when everything is normal but break under stress. And when they break, everyone suffers. The less fortunate suffer and die. The more fortunate are merely hurt, and perhaps lose their freedoms or their future. But even the extremely fortunate suffer — maybe not in the short term, but in the long term from the constriction of the rest of society.

Bruce Schneier, The Security Value of Inefficiency

Bruce Schneier is using ‘security’ here in the broadest terms — not just computer systems, but food production and distribution, healthcare provision, business and employment, even governance.