Economics writer Tim Harford studies complex systems — and finds a surprising link among the successful ones: they were built through trial and error. In this sparkling talk from TEDGlobal 2011, he asks us to embrace our randomness and start making better mistakes.
Trial, error and the God complex (video)
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(6 Responses)
a variation of the god complex is a.e. van vogt’s concept of “the right man”, someone who can never admit he’s wrong. (this also applies to women; but sci-fi was pretty sexist those days.) it’s the root of all kinds of evyl, including domestic violence & wars. for more information on this concept, see: http://phinnweb.blogspot.com/2004/10/right-man-and-fear-of-losing-face.html
the challenging of beliefs is the reason why i like to discuss religion with people of other religions. more of us should do that.
Im to quick for you I watched it already
This definition of “complexity” leaves a great deal to be desired. There are more grains of sand on a beach than all the products in the world, yet no one would confuse the sand on a beach with complexity, no matter how long it takes to count all the individual grains. Counting items is “simply” tedious and unnecessary. This argument does not support the conclusion that anyone acting with some degree of certainty has a “God complex.” I do wish he had made a better argument, as I accept the idea that the world is more complex than we can apprehend in any objectively meaningful way. Our apprehension of the word is subjective and incomplete, but it does not follow that we are all completely deluded. Rather, we simply operate with less than perfect total information.
Laura: Here’s a link: http://www.sandgrains.com/Sand-Grains-Gallery.html
Look at those, and then tell me again that sand has no complexity.
The God Complex:
If god exists, that entity must have created questions. Some of those questions relate to said entity’s veracity. A god that is prepared to have it’s infallibility questioned. Humans that are not.
Now, where do you think irony originates from?
http://youtu.be/eT9xJW_F2_c
Sadly we live in a world where only assertive individuals who are certain of their beliefs can gain political office or raise themselves above their peers, and this is all to do with human nature.
It is also about trial and error, rejection and selection, as we have seen candid, intelligent politicians bite the dirt whilst self-promoting BS’ers have flourished, because the BS’ers have learned exactly what to say and how to say it, to the point where they mimic the body language and phrasing of other successful politicians.
Sure, they are transparent to many of us, but they only have to fool most of the people all of the time to further their cause, so I’m afraid Tim Harford will never see his idea of a good politician in any position of real power, which is a shame.