Mechanism
Graceful Degradation
TL;DR
Provides partial redundancy without duplicating entire systems.
Design systems to continue operating at reduced capacity when components fail, rather than failing completely. Neural distributed representations exemplify this - damage degrades performance proportionally rather than catastrophically.
Business Application of Graceful Degradation
Aircraft illustrate graceful degradation: losing one engine allows continued flight at reduced performance; losing hydraulic pressure reduces but doesn't eliminate control authority. Provides partial redundancy without duplicating entire systems.