GÖDLICHER’S
THEORY 

       The Theory of Insufficiency was developed by Herbert B. Gödlicher (2058 - 2115), professor of Evolutionary Systems at Harvard University. Its fundamental proposition is that no system, whether natural or artificial, can exist in the absence of  flaws and contradictions. We know that biological evolution has relied on a process of random mutation or errors in the genetic code. What is true of biology, he claimed, is true of all matter. Unlike Plato, who believed in “perfect” theoretical or ideal forms, Gödlicher proposed that insufficiency, as he called it, is built into the fabric of the universe. Thus, even close-ended concepts - such as arithmetical equations,  contain imperfections without which they can neither be defined nor put to use. Consequently, says Gödlicher, nothing is invariably the case, because to everything there exists an exception, a fly in the ointment. “Life”, he once famously remarked on being unable to get a table at his favourite restaurant, “is a series of Achilles’ Heels”.
    Gödlicher’s theory has had a profound impact on many fields of human and computational endeavour. The pursuit of excellence, for example, has been discredited in some quarters since certain of  Gödlicher’s followers (though not Gödlicher himself) have used Insufficiency Theory to show that, because superlatives can never be so absolute as to be devoid of inadequacy, the idea of excellence has no meaning. Idealism in public life has also taken a pounding, having been replaced by a kind of “make-do” pragmatism. Politicians eschew ideologies since these are considered to be a form of naivety in a flawed world. Philosophers and poets dither, as perhaps they didn’t in the past, able no longer to trust even their own inner truths; while some extravagant thinkers now hold that computers - once revered for guardianship of the truth, are  as fallible - and even mendacious -  as humans.