I’ve written about the complexity of parasites, forests, your cells, your body and all the bacteria inside it. I wrote about how what you eat is connected to how you grew up, industrial production, capitalism, economics, culture, politics, media and psychology. It all points to this:
When someone tells you they have a simple solution to a big problem, they are either selling you something or trying to win your vote.
Also, they are wrong.
Once you start to see the complexity of all the systems of existence, it’s easy to despair. The problems seem too hard. They seem literally impossible to solve. At this moment of dis-illusionment, when you see complexity and your instinct is to retreat into ignorance and inaction, the most important thing to do is to keep seeing. Lean into the complexity.
When you do the work of understanding complex systems – not perfectly, but enough – you begin to see simple actions that move things in the right direction, that set off virtuous cycles of improvement.
We love to applaud the few people who beat the odds. But they will always a small minority – we know about the mouse of willpower. The truly amazing work comes with understanding complexity enough to find the simple actions that raise the odds for everyone.
Fun fact: you don’t have to figure it all out for yourself. Learn enough to use your energy and actions to help the people and organisations who do understand the complexity of the thing you care about. Big problems are solved by communities.
—Jeff
In honor of a weekend spent in the North Georgia Mountains and seeing ZZ Top throw down on stage, enjoy this classic.
Just one thing at a time. It sets things in motion.
Grow slowly
Skyler
There are no problems, only solutions🙏