Complex systems are impossible to understand with reductionist tools.

But that's not to say they are impossible to understand.

They can be understood with a different set of tools.

The best way is to gain knowhow.

Direct experiential knowledge, informed by hands-on interactions with the system, that helps congeal a gut feel.

When you have knowhow, you can't describe why a given decision is right… but nevertheless you have a success rate significantly beyond what chance would predict.

Saying something is chaotic absolves you of the ability or responsibility for developing knowhow, an edge.

Instead of giving up, dive in.

As you engage with the system, you earn experiential knowledge, and knowhow.

Knowhow is a real edge in understanding a complex system.

Fingerspitzengefühl: the feeling, the knowhow that comes from practice using the thing.