Get the latest tech news

We've lost our respect for complexity

I was talking recently to a friend about a video essayist I like, (Dan Olson of Folding Ideas) and when asked why I thought he was any good I pondered it for a moment and said “he has a lot of respect for complexity”. On reflection, I think that is one of the virtues I look for in new people I meet more generally.

I was talking recently to a friend about a video essayist I like, (Dan Olson of Folding Ideas) and when asked why I thought he was any good I pondered it for a moment and said “he has a lot of respect for complexity”. Instead we now live in a time of doing your own research, of skepticism, but most of all, of the idea that understanding the full complexity of every topic that might cross your path is not only possible, but somehow, expected. As we take these foundational industries like agriculture, manufacturing, engineering, construction, and automate them (or for that matter, move them overseas) we detach ourselves from real complexity and I think we lose something from that.

Get the Android app