War and Peace and IT

2	Complexity and Uncertainty

Many neckless faces sprouted, and arms were wandering naked, bereft of shoulders, and eyes were roaming alone, in need of foreheads.

—Empedocles of Acragas, On Nature

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

—Søren Kierkegaard, Journals

In War and Peace, Tolstoy writes of the battle of Borodino, in which Napoleon (sort of) defeats Russia and wins the opportunity to watch Moscow burn, though not much more. The day before the battle, he walks the battlefield and gives his commanders orders for the disposition of the troops—orders which are, for the most part, ignored. During the battle, he stands in the nearby redoubt of Shevardino—which he has unexpectedly captured the day before—observing ...