When We Mistake What We Can Know for All There is to Know

The problem is that once science has reduced a complex phenomenon to a couple of variables, however important they may be, the natural tendency is to overlook everything else, to assume that what you can measure is all there is, or at least all that really matters. When we mistake what we can know for all there is to know, a healthy appreciation of one’s ignorance in the face of mystery like soil fertility gives way to the hubris that we can treat nature as a machine.

Michael Pollan, 2007

These nicely crafted words are by Michael Pollan in his book: the Omnivore’s Dilemma: a Natural History of Four Meals. Michael Pollan was describing what happened to the health of plants when we reduced what they need to Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (NPK). We started providing plants with NPK only (through synthetic fertilizers). Michael Pollan states: once we reduce complex phenomenon to a couple of variables, however important they may be, the natural tendency is to overlook everything else. This is exactly the problem with the misapplication of evidence based medicine (EBM). There is the tendency to overlook everything else. EBM is a very good tool for evaluating studies. These studies happen to follow the reductionist paradigm. We should never allow reductionism to overcast our thoughts. We should not allow EBM to overlook everything else and assume there is nothing else to know.