On irregular, random and erratic patterns (Y. Friedman)

"I would like to propose the following definitions for certain diverse yet interrelated organizations: 'irregular', 'random' and 'erratic'.

Stone House, Laddakh
(designstudiojj.blogspot.com)

We can take an organisation as 'irregular' when no general rule defines all its constitutive elements. An organisation is 'random' when it lacks and explicit composition rules, even if the constitutive elements come from a definite, limited set. Inside an organisation or an 'erratic' 'system', it is not only evident that its composition does not obey any rules, but its components come from an infinite whole in which we cannot observe a rule of composition. Each one of the elements that form an erratic system is an 'individual', an irreplaceable element with an almost 'free will', without a predictable 'behaviour'. Both an irregular and a random systems could be described as 'mechanical' systems, systems that can be represented with the help of a machine. In an erratic system, this description is inadequate. Of course, an erratic system can be described in statistical terms (what couldn't?), however the statistical description methods fail to account the most important characteristic of an erratic system: it's indeterminacy.

Erratic systems or erratic organisations are unpredictable. It is impossible to guess which would be the following stage of these systems in any of their phases. [...] Architectonic objects are erratic if we look at details such as their users; they are regular if we overlook them."

Friedman, Yona (2006) Pro Domo. Barcelona: Actar. p 206.