"> Problem is, the whole damn thing is so complicated that we cannot know anything really definitive about it. You can say the same things about human societie

"> Problem is, the whole damn thing is so complicated that we cannot know anything really definitive about it. You can say the same things about human societies and nature." You can, but the thing is, we already know a lot about how that works. We've evolved into it over millions of years. We have no idea about this new stuff. You want to talk about about small groups of 100-150 or so people work together to accomplish something? I've got hundreds of books, stories, history, archaeology. We have the wisdom of the ages. You want to talk about how 20 thousand semi-intelligent agents interact with billions? We have nothing aside from endless optimism and the fun of making stuff. (Doesn't make it bad. It means we should grow the hell up and be a bit reticent about what we're mucking around with. Make smaller mistakes more quickly would be my advice.)