Complicated: Containing many intricately combined parts. Hard to figure out.
Complex: Exhibiting systemic properties that aren't apparent, even if you understand its parts.
A complex system is composed of many interacting variables each of which has a small rule set. Because of the many variables it exhibits nonlinearity and emergence.
A 747 is very complicated. A jellyfish is complex. A hierarchical org chart can be complicated. An eco-system is complex. The US Tax Code is complicated. The I-Ching is complex.
There are many definitions and views on what exactly complexity is, and not wide agreement, not on this distinction either, or what to call it. But, in brief, there's a "good" kind of complexity, where the complexity adds up to richness and resilience in some form. And there's the not good kind, the complicated kind, where things are just messy or hard to understand, and nothing great comes out of that.
When the good kind of complexity, the kind that carries life, is not respected or not understood, and attempted replaced with simplistic one-size-fits all solutions, bad stuff generally happens sooner or later. On the other hand, if complexity is allowed and cultivated and enjoyed, beauty happens, and there's simplicity on the other side.
"The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". --Jacob Burkhardt
Complex: Exhibiting systemic properties that aren't apparent, even if you understand its parts.
A complex system is composed of many interacting variables each of which has a small rule set. Because of the many variables it exhibits nonlinearity and emergence.
A 747 is very complicated. A jellyfish is complex. A hierarchical org chart can be complicated. An eco-system is complex. The US Tax Code is complicated. The I-Ching is complex.
There are many definitions and views on what exactly complexity is, and not wide agreement, not on this distinction either, or what to call it. But, in brief, there's a "good" kind of complexity, where the complexity adds up to richness and resilience in some form. And there's the not good kind, the complicated kind, where things are just messy or hard to understand, and nothing great comes out of that.
When the good kind of complexity, the kind that carries life, is not respected or not understood, and attempted replaced with simplistic one-size-fits all solutions, bad stuff generally happens sooner or later. On the other hand, if complexity is allowed and cultivated and enjoyed, beauty happens, and there's simplicity on the other side.
"The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". --Jacob Burkhardt
Return to Knowledgebase