Reality = complexity
Up until early this year, I’ve never made it into the real world. Stuff learnt at uni was all theoretical except for the occasional geology field trip - they were mostly theoretical stuff shaped by historical events. At Steph and Tennessee’s big lunch today, I (the GIS officer in the water industry) had a long conversation with the civil engineer and the urban designer/architect. I wonder if we worked together on a major project and focusing on our primary goal, it is very likely that we will have major argument. The engineer’s goal would be to achieve functionality; the architect’s main goal would be to create a comfortable and aesthetic living environment and I as the enviro geek would aim to maintain a consistent water supply/develop infrastructure in an environmentally sustainable way. If we are to work on a major development - eg: a bridge, there would be so many conflicting ideas and the more people involved, the greater the complexity. This is very much like the Buddhist philosophy - that everything is interconnected. And this is reality.