Complexity

The irreplaceable Michael Crichton has another excellent speech up on his web site. Read it and savor it.

An important feature of complex systems is that we don’t know how they work. We don’t understand them except in a general way; we simply interact with them. Whenever we think we understand them, we learn we don’t. Sometimes spectacularly.

Update:

Michael Crichton has put up a nice index of his speeches. They used to be somewhat hidden on his web site. I'm looking forward to reading the 2005 ones.