The opposite of brittleness in complex systems. David Woods presents a theory of graceful extensibility. This paper is dense and will reward further study. Know that it is not for the faint of heart. pdf 
The Theory of Graceful Extensibility: basic rules that govern adaptive systems David D. Woods Department of Integrated Systems Engineering Ohio State University September 2018
All systems have an envelope of performance, or a range of adaptive behavior, due to **finite resources** and **continuous change**. There is a transition zone where a system shifts regimes of performance when pushed to the edge of its envelope. Brittleness and graceful extensibility describe how the system responds while exceeding its envelope of performance. Graceful extensibility refers to a system’s ability to adapt how it works to extend performance past the boundary into a new regime of performance invoking new resources, responses, relationships, and priorities.
At the heart of the theory of graceful extensibility is the fundamental concept of managing **risk of saturation** via regulating the **capacity for maneuver**.
# Subset A: Managing Risk of Saturation
# Subset B: Networks of Adaptive Units
# Subset C: Outmaneuvering Constraints
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This paper expands on Human Performance in Systems