Complex adaptive systems make the pretense of locating an optimal regulatory outcome deeply unwise.

Evidence

In short, for many environmental problems, maintaining adherence to the optimizationpolicy framework may be deeply unwise. Particularly in the face of complex adaptive systems, which contain feedback mechanisms that can magnify impressively the consequences of even the slightest regulatory misstep, decision makers should abandon the pretense of actually attempting to locate and pursue an “optimal” outcome. Instead, they should present for collective consideration an unalloyed depiction of what is, and is not, known about the possible consequences of human action, so that the po liti cal community can consider directly whether it wants to entertain catastrophic or irreversible environmental harm as part of its unique legacy. — Douglas A. Kysar, Regulating from Nowhere, 264

Categorization

• XREF: Speaks directly to the soundscape course thread on listening/observation-as-method — presenting qualitative scenarios over numeric ranges is an epistemic stance. — connects to: Technology standards are ecologically rational heuristics for non-optimizable settings. — Douglas A. Kysar, Regulating from Nowhere: Environmental…, 529; Formalized systems like cost-benefit analysis must inherently be incomplete. — Douglas A. Kysar, Regulating from Nowhere: Environmental…, 443; Complexity means the world holds more possibilities than a system can realize — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 101 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Predictability requires controlling variables, so heterogeneity defies guaranteed outcomes. #corroborates (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1895
• Complexity means the world holds more possibilities than a system can realize #expands (0.78) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 101
• Differentiation meant to manage complexity can itself cause information failures #expands (0.74) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1996
• Simple rules generate complexity without guaranteeing system self-regulation #corroborates (0.72)
• The situation resembles an evolutionary environment structuring adaptation #corroborates (0.70) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 444
• Regulatory-system innovation is needed to sustain capitalism’s profit logic #exemplifies (0.70) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1139