Particle physicists like to say that the theory of complexity is the most exciting new thing in science in a generation, except that it has the one disadvantage of not existing.
My own work has been mostly on the theory of elementary particles, but I have never found these particles very interesting in themselves. An electron is featureless, and much like every other electron. Most of those of us who study elementary particles do so because we think that at this moment in the history of science it is the best way to discover the laws that govern all natural phenomena. Because of this special motivation, we don’t generally care whether we can calculate everything that happens to elementary particles in complicated situations, only whether we can calculate enough to check the validity of our theories.
No one can predict the details of these showers, even where the underlying theory is known, and hardly anyone cares. — — It is the laws, not the phenomena, that interest us.
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