Thoughts on Models, Nihilism, Safe Spaces, and Boundaries

Complexity theory is not nihilism. The whole may not be the sum of its parts and the interactions between the constituent elements of a system, though difficult to quantify empirically, profoundly affect behavior.  When connections are overemphasized, however, it can be difficult to act with meaningful intent in a field like medicine.  In complex systems, boundaries, even arbitrary ones, are necessary to maintain a semblance of order. Biological, ideological, and theoretical extremes are maladaptive because they are typically overly rigid or overly chaotic.  Asystole (no electrical activity) and ventricular fibrillation (completely disorganized electrical activity) are both lethal heart rhythms. When it comes to security, we want to be safe from those who wish to do us harm but not at the complete expense of civil liberties.  We want to right social and legislative wrongs for historically marginalized groups without disempowering them by assuming they have no agency or free will.  In each of these instances, the real conversation should be about what constitutes “reasonable” boundaries; not debating the merits of a police state compared to one with no security apparatus, as an example.

Conversations about boundaries force us to revisit timeless philosophical questions that have no simple answers.

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