3 ms·
As a software engineer, I'm constantly exposed to system complexity. My experience is that even systems which seem relatively simple from the outside can be ext
by jongjong 1y ago
As a software engineer, I'm constantly exposed to system complexity. My experience is that even systems which seem relatively simple from the outside can be extremely complex. Beyond a certain level of complexity, it becomes very difficult to change something without breaking something else. You need to be aware of dependencies when making changes. It appears that the human body is a much more complex system than any software system, with much more complex interdependencies... Given this, it's not surprising at all that it's so difficult to develop solutions to problems like cancer. The whac-a-mole effect must be massive. Seems like every change has countless unintended side effects.
- dboreham 1y agoIt has built-in error correction but sometimes there are more bits flipped than the correction codes can correct.
- jszymborski 1y agoYah that's exactly it. The field of Systems Biology frames things very much in this way https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_biology# https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_biology#
- srean 1y agoA portion of the complexity comes from fixing bugs not at its root-cause. Once you have accumulated many such proximate fixes it becomes quite expensive to fix the bug at the root-cause level. The resident root-cause bug continues to create new problems downstream. Not much different from biological evolution.
- jongjong 1y agoGreat point. I chuckle at the fact that 'addressing the root cause' is what naturopaths and 'holistic medicine' practitioners are selling themselves on... Claiming that modern medicine is focused on selling drugs to mask symptoms and doesn't address the root cause... Though their solutions are often even more superficial on average... Besides maybe their approach vitamin deficiencies and supplements.