Man has never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.

-- Bernard Williams (1929-) English Philosopher

read full article:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/04/15/the_next_big_thing_resilience


8 Principles of resilience include:
Diversity: Not relying on a single kind of solution means not suffering from a single point of failure.
Redundancy: Backup, backup, backup. Never leave yourself with just one path of escape or rescue.
Decentralization: Centralized systems look strong, but when they fail, they fail catastrophically.
Collaboration: We're all in this together. Take advantage of collaborative technologies, especially those offering shared communication and information.
Transparency: Don't hide your systems -- transparency makes it easier to figure out where a problem may lie. Share your plans and preparations, and listen when people point out flaws.
Fail gracefully: Failure happens, so make sure that a failure state won't make things worse than they are already.
Flexibility: Be ready to change your plans when they're not working the way you expected; don't count on things remaining stable.
Foresight: You can't predict the future, but you can hear its footsteps approaching. Think and prepare.