Although “adaptive management” has been around for some twenty years and despite the fact that there is a substantial body of literature on its applicability to scientific problems, it is necessary to conclude that it has not been adopted widely either as a research or a management technique. The “blueprint” approach still dominates mainstream scientific methodologies despite its demonstrable and documented limitations. The issue is all-pervasive, affecting scientific research, management, conservation (including international treaties) and development. This paper examines the essential differences between a process-based approach and a blueprint approach and gives examples to demonstrate the generality of the epistemological problem. The author concludes that until adaptive management is treated as a formal scientific discipline and given a name reflecting its application to the study of uncertainties and complex systems it is unlikely to be adopted by a larger group of followers.