Complexity: the science for medicine and the human story

René Dubos called for a neo- Hippocratic medicine to bring together art and science, with a holistic approach diff erent from this normal scientifi c approach, to reflect the complexities of the patient and diff ering realities.3 Complexity science is the 21st century neo-Hippocratic science that brings these together, defi ning a post-normal, more holistic science, with features of uncertainty, irregularity, and subject ivity, which serves medicine better.4 Medicine and its underlying science not only change, but lie in the eye of the beholder.2 To some they mean absolute truth and validity, to others uncertainty and the contextual nature of reality.