Survival of the Flexible

Many of us like to think that there is our own version of something controlling everything, and that allows us to find comfort. I moved away from being religious, but I still had the idea that there was a bias to good. That gave me comfort partly because of the possibility that you can control stuff. 

Gradually, I started to get more comfort than that, from the idea of randomness. The simple driver that stuff happens because stuff happens. 

There are different types of randomness. Part of the complexity depends on the constraints. When you roll a dice, there are only 6 possible outcomes. For a coin, it is two. The Rubik’s cube is incredibly complex, with 43 quintillion (18 zeros) combinations. That is a finite... but mindbogglingly large number. By adding a layer of pattern recognition, you can still learn to create a sense of control. 

Another level of randomness is simply a pulse. The mere existence of life and change. It does not have to have intent other than a will to survive. To cope with change. That does not require insight into the future. If you have sufficient biodiversity, you can cope with most changes in an evolutionary sense. 

You just don’t know which of the survivors will be the strongest in hindsight. That depends on what happens. Even if you see the result, and played again, a different scenario would unfold. That is complexity that responds to flexibility rather than control. Reacting and adjusting. Survival of the flexible. 

Create excess control and single solutions create the unintended consequences of mono-culture. Where we do not know that what we are doing is horribly wrong, until it is too late.