More Shots in the Dark

Karen: whenever I read of scientists  dismissing the uncertainties and unpredictabilities associated with complexity — such as giving uniform medications to people of diverse makeups — I feel obliged to remind them of an underlying premise of the study of chaos. Harlow Shapley expressed the matter in this way: “Chaos is but unperceived order; it is a word indicating the limitations of the human mind and the paucity of observational facts. The words ‘chaos,’ ‘accidental,’ ‘chance,’ ‘unpredictable,’ are conveniences behind which we hide our ignorance.” ‘Coincidence’ and ‘anecdotal’ are two additional words that serve the same end of disguising our inability to make predictions in a complex world.

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