Decomposition and Its Logic

Decomposition is the operation by which bounded agents convert problems too complex to solve directly into collections of sub-problems each solvable by finite cognition. The practice is ubiquitous because bounded rationality requires it: no mind can hold an entire complex system in view, so complex systems must be built, maintained, and modified through decomposition into subsystems that bounded minds can understand separately. Simon's near-decomposability framework provides the structural conditions under which decomposition works — subsystems must interact strongly within themselves and weakly across boundaries, so that understanding any particular subsystem does not require understanding all of them simultaneously. The traditional corporate hierarchy, the academic department, the software module, the engineering specialty — all are decomposition architectures, and all are being destabilized by AI's capacity to enable individuals to operate across subsystem boundaries. The question for the next generation of organizations and institutions is not whether decomposition will survive but what new decompositions will replace the old ones — which boundaries