Journal on Policy and Complex Systems
the seduction of cancer genetics is that it purports to explain the unity and the diversity of cancer in one swoop . For ecologists , by contrast , everything is a relationship among a complex assemblage of factors . ( p . 48 )
As a former ecologist I had to laugh , because I have experienced that same frustrated reaction from people I have talked to in my organizational work . I too have met people who taught me how to better appreciate and understand complexity . Most of us can find someone who can teach us more about living with complexity .
The more time we spend with complexity , the better position we will be in to put down our simplifying filters and confront it as it is . If we can do this , I think we can achieve several goals in our lifetimes . We can stop artificially isolating complexity from other forms of order and learn to make better sense of the complexicated world we live in . We can stop seeing complexity as a magical gift ( order for free !) or impending crisis ( wicked problems !), and we can understand that ( like our children ) it is a little of both . We can explore the ways in which people have been thinking about complexity for millennia . Finally , we can learn to see complex phenomena such as the butterfly effect , keystone species , and evolutionary adaptation not as threats to be subdued , but as fundamental insights into the way our world works .
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