Complexity and Chaos

I just got a new set of lectures from The Teaching Company about these issues. I'm really excited about it because I feel like so many things in life are so drastically over-simplified by our brains. I am often stunned when I hear people make causal connections that seem so simplistic. I'm sure I do it too. The first example of a leap that I tend to avoid is connecting a specific action such as eating a particular food or sleeping too long, to a particular result such as a headache or sleepiness. I don't deny these connections altogether, I can simply think of too many other possible contributing factors to be comfortable declaring a simple cause-and-effect. There are just so many things that correspond or correlate, but are not necessarily primary causes, yet get assigned as causes for the sake of simplicity. I think this simplistic approach to interpreting life must have huge ramifications in every area from politics to religion. Of course I'll have a write-up about my feelings that will be way too long for anyone to read as soon as I'm done with the courses.

Comments

TMinut said…
I LOVE the Teaching Company's courses! From your post, I assume you've been told often, "You think too much," or "Oh, you're one of THOSE people..."

I'm more intrigued by simplicity but it never seems to work out. Everything is connected to everything else; no matter how one tries to disengage, that's nothing but futility.
12:10 PM
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