I really like the authors’ description of the use and abuse of “complex” as vernacular for “difficult” in describing current social and political problems. I especially like their discussion on optimization — ie, fixing stuff.
Their conditions for “fixability” are simple — a situation needs to admit change, to admit the measurement of change, and to be able to react to change. Simple, really, if we ever did it.
Look at the BP mess. Certainly changeable, and the change would be measurable if the Obama administration would grow a pair and enforce transparency on the part of BP.
Why isn’t this happening? It’s complicated …
http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2010/05/whyd-you-have-to-go-and-make-things-so.html
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