I have a clock and I want to know how it works because there's always been an enquiring mind in me. So I take it to pieces and lay all the component parts on the table. I ought to add that it's quite an old clock with cogs and springs, all powered by a wind-up mechanism. I sit and ponder what has been revealed and establish a mental model of how the wound spring drives the second, minute and hour hands, through a series of gears, to provide a picture of time.
So that was an interesting exercise but the whole is worth more to me than the sum of the parts and having increased my knowledge base, I'm now keen to reassemble the clock - but how?! Well I might have remembered how the parts fitted together, perhaps even taken notes. Alternatively the original manufacturer of the clock might be able to provide me with a blueprint for the clock, which would list all the components and explain how they fit together. The point is that it is possible to take the clock to pieces, find out how it works and then reassemble it. The reassembly can be achieved with the original blueprint or indeed it is possible to create a new blueprint by recording the component parts and the steps needed to reconstruct the clock.
Now let's look at a completely different scenario. A friend provides me with a sample of his freshly baked carrot cake, which I decide to try shortly afterwards with a cup of coffee on my balcony. The sun is shining, I feel relaxed and ready to sample my newly acquired culinary delight.......delicious!!!! I'm not a professional cook but I do like to dabble and this carrot cake is simply the best I have ever tasted, so I'm keen to reproduce it, but how? I decide to ask my friend for the recipe and he obliges. There's no reason why he shouldn't really because the recipe is contained within a well known cook book so it's well and truly in the public domain. I haven't completely finished my friend's carrot cake and I reserve a bit to compare with my own creation when available. I bake my cake, do the comparison and guess what.........there's a difference! My friend's cake is definitely tastier than mine.
Unlike the clock, it is impossible to take the cake to pieces and establish exactly how it was made. I used a recipe but a recipe is NOT a blueprint and the difference between a clock and a cake is the difference between complicated and complex. I collect my freshly-made loaf of bread from a local bakery every morning. It's warm, delicious but always slightly different! The shape, texture and hardness of the crust all show variations from day to day. I am sure my friend would admit to his carrot cakes varying to some degree each time he makes one. On the other hand, the clock will always be the same each time I disassemble and reassemble it provided that I follow the blueprint. So the difference between the clock and the cake is not only complicated vs complex but also certainty vs probability. I will talk more about certainties and probabilities in a future blog.
Life is full of blueprints and recipes and from my experience, we all too often confuse a recipe for a blueprint. In other words we assume that a particular course of action will lead to a certain (rather than a probable) outcome. Let me give you an example - The Miracle Diet, a blueprint for successfully losing weight. There are loads of them on the market! So you weigh-in, collect your special dietary pack and pay a hefty fee for all this 'expert' advice. Maybe things go well initially and you lose a few kilos but one year later you're back to square one. Body weight is a function of a number of variables including input (food) and output (exercise). But it is a complex, rather than complicated, matter and I defy anyone to understand it fully and to be able to predict individual outcomes to dietary plans. The plan itself is a recipe not a blueprint.
I could cite many examples of recipes that are presented as blueprints in life, including politics, financial services, personal well-being, macro economics, sport........to name but a few. Interestingly, rarely are blueprints misrepresented as recipes. So if ever you are asked the question 'What's the difference between a clock and a cake?', you'll know it's not the lead-in to a joke!........or is it?
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