> I'm convinced that everything has infinite fractal complexity and it's a fool's errand to reduce most non-trivial situations to metaphors or explicit systems.

I think I agree with you. I also think there's a dangerous temptation to fail to recognize that foolishness, and cultivate a false impression of understanding by almost denying the reality of things some cherished model doesn't handle. That temptation increases with the elegance of the model and the number of limited cases where it can be applied with reasonable success.