Emery's Law

Emery’s Law: Any social phenomenon is more complex than you imagine, even when you take into account Emery’s Law.

By any, I mean phenomena like:

• The riots in Baltimore in the Spring of 2015.
• Police treatment of individuals.
• Distribution of privilege.
• Compensation schemes.
• Testing.
• Estimating.
• A stream of comments on Youtube, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, …
• Steve Earle’s concert at the Crest Theater in Sacramento on April 29, 2015.
• A kiss.
• A shared glance.
• This blog post.
• The woefully limited range of categories I was able to think of as I constructed this list.

One implication of Emery’s Law: Your understanding of any social phenomenon is incomplete.

My advice: Whatever conclusions you draw about any social phenomenon, no matter how simple it seems, hold them tentatively.