Comments

Yes, but that from the man who also said: "The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom."

Posted by Mark JF at June 9, 2008 2:48 PM

H.L. Mencken - is correct with both insights... age brings perspective, hardening of the arteries, aches and pains... it doesn't necessarily bring wisdom... remember first edition old books are not necessarily worth much... it is the substance that is valuable within people, and books, not the aging process... those who like to 'over simplify' issues, and world events, are often in the majority and it seems to me a majority decision, postulated and obtained with resonating 'group think', is often less than wise.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at June 9, 2008 6:06 PM

There are many neat, easy, and plausable solutions.
--stop smoking
--take time to smell the roses
--reduce saturated fats-eat healthy
--exercise

The hard part is IMPLEMENTING those easy solutions!

Posted by Paul B. Thornton at June 9, 2008 6:22 PM

I would add to this insight that the best method for finding truth is using cience. And even than, you only get a theory wich is always falsible.(by Einsten) . So i keep in mind as much as i can that cience and humility is my best friends. I am Liking it so far!

Posted by Fausto at June 9, 2008 7:02 PM

This is what the 'Systems Thinking' guys use as their mantra.

Posted by Cal P. Iswater at June 9, 2008 8:05 PM

Cal, I think you’re mistaken in feeling that Systems Thinking (ST) is about neat and easy solutions. Rather, it’s about precisely the opposite – ST deals with complex problems that have many interdependencies, and therefore, ST argues against expecting neat and easy solutions.

ST commonly tackles what are known as “wicked problems” – problems that cannot be defined easily, problems for which the solution depends on the nature of the question asked, there is no ‘ultimate’ solution, the solution can only be found by trial and error (ie, by action), and so on.

That’s why I’m surprised that Tom has a rather anti-ST stance.

Posted by Chetan Dhruve at June 10, 2008 2:38 AM