Euchreprof's request for a simple answer in a complex problem reminds me of a similar trend close to my profession. When measuring human movement, more and more sophysticated technology is being used. Typically a report on a patient's movement problems includes several pages of specialised information that only specialists can understand. Against this level of complexity stands the surgeon who wants a simple answer from the biomechanist sometimes in the form of "do I transfer this muscle or not?".

The interesting development over the past years has been that rather than suffocating each other in public, the two sides are moving towards a solution. Biomechanists are now able to condense their findings and simplify the otherwise complex results. On the other hand the surgeons are developing an in depth understanding of biomechanics and begin to appreciate that their over-simplified questions are not valid questions.

The analogy may not be perfectly correct (as they never are) but I thought that the evolution of this off topic matter might be useful to share.