21st Century Engineering by Anirudh Dhebar
June 2025
When the 'optimal' thing is merely to 'muddle through'
This and related columns in upcoming issues are motivated
by a spring 1959 paper “The Science of ‘Muddling Through’”
(Public Administration Review); a conversation touching on
“satisficing” in a recent class on “Agency, Decision-Making
and System Dynamics;” and a Feb. 14, 2025, piece in The
New York Times, “A Mathematician Who Makes the Best of
Things,” contrasting optimization with creativity.
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