tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post3085266857533263403..comments2024-03-24T11:01:27.668-04:00Comments on Resource Insights: The stock market swoon and our hatred of (some kinds of) volatilityKurt Cobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-60652923385755142232018-02-13T10:16:42.679-05:002018-02-13T10:16:42.679-05:00A couple of thoughts to share after reading this a...A couple of thoughts to share after reading this article. I couldn't help but think of a couple of texts I read on complex systems and how a big part of our dilemma is believing we can control such systems. With all the feedback loops and emergent phenomena that emerge when variables of a system are altered, it seems to me to be little more than hubris to believe we can fully control complex systems. It is as you argue, taming volatility by shifting some variable or two always seems to set us up for some unforeseen and unintended consequence down the road. This lead me to think about archaeologist Joseph Tainter's thesis that complex societies tend to 'collapse' due to the Law of Diminishing Returns as our problem-solving societies take greater and greater amounts of energy and other resources to solve the various problems of society (i.e. reduce volatility/control complex systems). Our proclivity to use the easy and cheap solutions to solve our problems eventually results in later solutions being much more difficult and costly until we reach a point where the costs outweigh the benefits and more and more people abandon complexity as a means of problem-solving. Our 'greatest' accomplishments may, in fact, be keeping us on a path to eventual global 'collapse' as our 'carbon bubble' eventually pops...only time will tell.Steve Bullhttps://olduvai.canoreply@blogger.com