"We can never fully understand our world, not in the way our reductionistic
science has led us to expect. Our science itself, from quantum theory to the
mathematics of chaos, leads us into irreducible uncertainty. For any objective
other than the most trivial, we can't optimize; we do'nt even know what to
optimize. We cant keep track of everything. We can't find a proper, sustainable
relationship to nature, each other, or the institutions we create, if we try to
do it from the role of omniscient conqueror. For those who stake their identity
on the role of omniscient conqueror, the uncertainty exposed by systems thinking
is hard to take. If you can't understand, predict, and control, what is there to
do?"
Influential environmentalist, farmer and writer Donella Meadows explores this
question in one of her many, thought-provoking pieces here.
