Complexity leads to stability; simplicity leads to instability.

In this week's episode, I explore the complexity of living systems and living things, and the tendency to simplify.

But simplicity often leads to instability; in fact, most times it leads to instability.

We want simplicity to make our lives easier, to make our lives easier to understand. However, this rush to simplicity often ends up in disaster and death.

Human cells are complex.

The functioning of human cells in your body is complex.

Soil is complex.

The world's climate is complex.

Killing termites to save more timber is simple but without termites our planet would struggle in many many ways. In fact, it wouldn't survive.

The solution is to embrace complexity and to live with it. Develop a mindset that makes you hungry to learn about complexity. And then harness that learning to gain the rewards of deep understanding.