Science stands mute

It is possible to search twitter then set up a feed for the search to put in your reader. So I have one set up for "complexity science". A single quote has been hitting that feed rampantly over the past few days:

There is a complexity to human affairs before which science and analysis simply stands mute.

It refers to an op-ed article by David Brooks in the NYT. The article refers to a longitudinal study of 268 men called the Grant Study. It seems the purpose was the see what makes people happy and how to get there.

The quote bothers me since it implies social science is a fruitless endeavor. I think the quote has spread through Twitter because it says something about the ethereal qualities of human relationships. People revel when they have access to something that science does not, like a soul maybe. When an exhaustive longitudinal study reveals "Happiness is love" there is a common relief that their intuitions are correct and the science is useless. Their connection to an realm outside the bounds of this physical dreary world is secure.

Brooks though is commenting a single study and a single essay. There has been gobs of research*, from psychology, sociology, economics, etc, recently studying happinness from a number of angles. Science doesn't stand mute on the topic... just that one ill-designed study of a single convenience sampling of white males.

* - ask me later if you really want me to start citing stuff. I need a collection of happiness paper and cites for my endnote anyhow.

P.S. Let's extend that 'happiness is love' into science, no?