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It may not be a straight comparison, if professionals in Physics vs. Biology are considering those concepts in the context of their fields. Biologists can hand
by _Nat_ 5y ago
It may not be a straight comparison, if professionals in Physics vs. Biology are considering those concepts in the context of their fields.
Biologists can handle complexity more easily, because things grow. This is, biologists can do their work and admire the complexity unfolding in front of their eyes, without it derailing their ability to do research.
Physics is different: they're straining against their computational-limits, struggling with intense-complexity beating down on them. Physicists often imagine being able to calculate macroscopic phenomena through sufficient modeling of microscopic dynamics, though the complexity constrains them. For physicists, it can be a relief to find something simple enough to be understood.
A good analogy might be with respect to scientists doing Astronomical research on stars: biologists would be like astronomers who catalog massive amounts of stars, trying to find neat ones, while physicists would be like astronomers who try to create physical-models to simulate/predict stellar-dynamics. In the first case, one might admire a huge diversity of complex behaviors; in the latter case, one may be elated to find a simple explanation for something that seemed complex.
In other words, if you're working from the top-down, then you might admire the inner-complexity of the systems you get to work with; but if you're working from the bottom-up, then you might cherish simpler explanations that enable you to do more.