The proliferation of such groups reflects the increasing complexity of the world—or rather, the tactical understanding that responding to such a world requires greater adaptability, and adaptability is more characteristic of small interactive teams than large top-down hierarchies. We can now do the things we used to do—get from New York to Portland, raid a building, provide trauma care—more quickly and effectively than we could fifty years ago, but doing them has become more complex and confusing, to the point that they are beyond the effective control of a single person.
