> The concept of "understanding" a complex system in its entirety is futile to begin with, that's why we call it "complex," that's what that word means. Comple

> The concept of "understanding" a complex system in its entirety is futile to begin with, that's why we call it "complex," that's what that word means. Complex: "a whole made up of complicated or interrelated parts" Complicated: "1: consisting of parts intricately combined a complicated recipe complicated machinery 2 : difficult to analyze, understand, or explain" The thesis here seems to be that an excessively complex system becomes complicated, and that nobody is able to understand a very complicated huge system to the point of being able to control it. "Jacques Ellul’s claim that technique became an autonomous phenomenon during the middle of the 20th century, and subsequently a system, means that the influence people have on technique is much less decisive than the influence technique has on people." (Willem H. Vanderburg, 2004)