a network of response

A chain of command is easy to describe; a network of response isn't. To those who live by mutual empowerment, "thick" description, complex and open-ended, is normal and comprehensible, but to those whose only model is hierarchic control, such description seems a muddle, a mess, along with what it describes. Who's in charge here? Get rid of all these petty details. How many cooks spoil a soup? Let's get this perfectly clear now. Take me to your leader!

—Ursula K. LeGuin, "The Shobies' Story," Universe, 1990; reprinted in The Space Opera Renaissance, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (New York: Tor; A Tom Doherty Associates Book; First Edition: July 2006), pp. 727–744.