Hence the thesis that more knowledge about social life (even if that knowledge is as well buttressed empirically as it could possibly be) equals greater control over our fate is false. It is (arguably) true about the physical world, but not about the universe of social events.

XREF: Echoes the principal-agent and reflexivity problems familiar from social theory; contrasts with the physical sciences where prediction enables control.

Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Moderni…, loc. 111