The linear favors the predictable, orderly, and routine. Get a feel for how a linear system works today, and you can be reasonably sure that the system will work the same way tomorrow. Linear systems follow well-defined rules. A certain level of input yields a predictable level of output.
The nonlinear is harder to predict. What works well today won't work all that well tomorrow. It's harder to predict how much a certain input is going to change the system. Interactions between different elements of a system are harder to predict. Determining which aspect of the nonlinear will be the most important is more of a guess than an informed prediction.
The linear is easy to bureaucratize. Develop a procedure, put in place a few rules, determine how much stuff you want to come out of the end, and press the start button. The system reigns supreme. People are only needed to hold off entropy.
The nonlinear is immune to regimentation. Constant intervention is required to ensure that input becomes output. Systems exist to support individuals. There is no system without experts to improvise a process for a constantly changing sea of variables.
The linear is easy to ship overseas. The nonlinear will stay with the experts. The linear gets by with managers. The nonlinear must be led. The linear is easy to teach. Put the information in a book or two, design a training course, inculcate the masses. The essence of the nonlinear defies simply expression as a sentence or a code. It's nebulous and shifting. The nonlinear requires active participation and experience.
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