First, a quote, then (below the fold) the book I found it in (and, incidentally, the post title about infinite variability, is taken from the book, below):
W.H. Auden:
"The historical world is a horrid place where, instead of nice clean measurable forces, there are messy things like mixed motives, where classes keep overlapping, where what is believed to have happened is as real as what actually happened, a world, moreover, which cannot be defined by technical terms but only described by analogies."
I've recently been reading How Nature Speaks: The Dynamics of the Human Ecological Condition, edited by a Finnish guy, Yrjo Haila, and an American, Chuck Dyke.
Says Richard Levins, the Harvard ecologist, and the top-name back-cover blurbe, the book does this: "...philosophical explorations, metaphorical musings, case histories of community action seen in the light of systems dynamics, and mathematical exposition of non-linear dynamics in clear intuitive terms all converge to help us see the richness of ecology as the paradigmatic science for understanding complexity. And yes, this book is necessary."
The collection is about the place of science in environmental policy and practice. It's good sutff. Anyone read this yet? Any thoughts on Auden and the scientific enterprise?