Complexity Breeds Fragility

A decline in public trust towards the cybernetic control structure arises from unintended consequences and a reduction in expertise. The growing complexity of systems leads to local optimizations that may initially appear beneficial, such as reducing COVID cases. However, this complexity also increases the entropy of the environment, resulting in instability within the control system. Much like an airplane's fragility, small perturbations can have catastrophic outcomes. The conversation references several theoretical frameworks for understanding these dynamics, emphasizing that complicated systems, although rich in theory, are still inherently fragile.