[neiman]

I adore Terence Tao, but this one feels like stating the obvious.

Basically, he says that simple solutions to complex situations work sometimes—for example when a simpler system can approximate your system.

But many times it's not true! So you need a complex solution to a complex situation.

That's kind of stating the obvious, no?

[ozim]

I would say yes for myself but as software developer I am baffled by business people to whom I have to basically explain this.

Some things are complex and will take months or years to complete - but if it doesn’t fit in a quarter where they can put it as a win on their list they feel offended.

[cowsaymoo]

I don't think so. He is rather talking about the properties of emergence in complex systems, and claims that the predictive theories we rely on to navigate the world will not hold in a dynamic system this interconnected ('no effective dynamics'), so we ought to be regularly retesting our assumptions.