Ways to Deal with Chaotic Systems

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Ways to Deal with Chaotic Systems

We are increasingly unable to predict "infinite conditions with infinite accuracy." So we have two choices:
One, we can SIMPLIFY THE SYSTEM WE MANAGE, and try to close it off from the complexities of outside connected systems. This is unlikely to work, and impossible to work in the long term. Try dropping a pebble in a pool of water; then try to stop the waves by pushing against them. It only increases the entropy (disorder) of the system. Does this mean that chaos generates order, but resistance to chaos creates disorder?
I hope so, because our only other available management strategy (since we can't predict and we can't control) is to LEARN TO RIDE THE TIGER. It's a wild ride. And the more interconnected all our planet's systems become, and the larger and more complex each independent system grows, the wilder it's gonna get.
If leaders base their legitimacy on their ability to predict which way the tiger is going to turn, they'll be leaders for a very brief time.

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		3 Kingsmill Consultant, United Kingdom
	Simplification as a Way to Deal with Chaotic Systems I agree with almost everything you say, except that I'm much more positive about simplification. In support, I'd like to cite the human brain, which has evolved lots of heuristics designed to "close it off from the complexities of outside connected systems". For example, we notice movement and sudden noises and accord them much more attention than stillness. There's an obvious survival benefit. Our brains ignore most of the information that's available to them. I like your metaphor of the pebble in the pool, and I'd just point out that we ourselves (individuals and organisations) drop most of the pebbles that we're affected by. In other words, we may not be able to simplify the outside world, but (a) we can simplify ourselves (b) we can choose what externalities to focus on and which to ignore. There's a very real adjacent point about mindfulness to be made too - about the virtue of becoming finely aware but not becoming attached to external 'reality'.