Of course my presentation of traditional vs. modern vs. post-modern is only one way of using the term. The problem with controlling "an environment, an economy or even an ecosystem" is the complexity of those systems, which is, typically, much greater than that of systems  engineers normally have the opportunity to control. And the great problem with control systems is that of overlooking important variables, often due to ignorance, but often also due to budget limitations.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."