An evolving system increases its complexity unless work is done to reduce it.
— Meir Lehman
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A Guide to Cutting Through AI Hype: Arvind Narayanan and Melanie Mitchell Discuss Artificial and Human Intelligence
https://blog.citp.princeton.edu/2025/04/02/a-guide-to-cutting-through-ai-hype-arvind-narayanan-and-melanie-mitchell-discuss-artificial-and-human-intelligence/
"In addition to metacognition, these systems also lack episodic memory—memory of their own experiences. So each conversation is essentially a clean slate unless the system has some way to access a persistent record."
CITP Blog · A Guide to Cutting Through AI Hype: Arvind Narayanan and Melanie Mitchell Discuss Artificial and Human Intelligence - CITP BlogLast Thursday’s Princeton Public Lecture on AI hype began with brief talks based on our respective books: The meat of the event was a discussion between the two of us and with the audience. A lightly edited transcript follows. Photo credit: Floriaan Tasche AN: You gave the example of ChatGPT being unable to comply with […]
Replied to Karl Voit 
> The purpose is to warn bystanders to invest in technological #complexity
I think your point is well taken. My introduction to ZFS was gradual, deploying it first on spare H/W to see what it was all about and about half a year later, migrating my home lab file server to ZFS. Years later I'm installing desktop, laptop and servers with ZFS on root. I admit to being a ZFS fanboy, but that took time and practice.
And as always backups are king!
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Most of the biggest problems in software are problems of misconception.
— Rich Hickey
Replied in thread
@janl The purpose is to warn bystanders to invest in technological #complexity that seems to be very attractive for its advanced features without acknowledging the risks or efforts associated.
Its learning curve doesn't even allow for an easy start.
As with so many awesome tools, this is something for specific experts and not for new/occasional/advanced users.
BTDT and I've had my fair share of bad experiences.
Current pain in my setup: #NixOS. Instead of providing an abstraction layer to keep away certain OS setup & maintenance problems for good, I got into so many little & bigger troubles that I try to tell people only to use it when they are ready to invest its required learning effort all the way.
From my point of view, this also holds true for "advanced" file systems like #ZFS, #XFS, ... YMMV.
UNIX is simple. It just takes a genius to understand its simplicity.
— Dennis M. Ritchie
Living Complexity by Luca Minudel https://leanpub.com/livingcomplexity #books #ebooks #complexity
This book describes 15 practical applications of Human Complexity in the context of software and digital products development. And suggests a new strategy for introducing Complexity thinking to your team and your organisation. The book is for leaders, managers, facilitators, change agents (Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches), and team members.
Find it on Leanpub!
Most of the biggest problems in software are problems of misconception.
— Rich Hickey
A discussion of the idea that complexity increases over time, even in non-living matter:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-everything-in-the-universe-turns-more-complex-20250402/
This provides an explanation for how complex molecules--precursors of life--developed and persisted before they were assembled into cells. It also posits a 'natural law' that stands somewhat in opposition to the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Quanta Magazine · Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex | Quanta MagazineA new suggestion that complexity increases over time, not just in living organisms but in the nonliving world, promises to rewrite notions of time and evolution.
An interdisciplinary team of researchers has proposed nothing less than a new law of #nature, according to which the #complexity of entities in the #universe increases over time with an inexorability comparable to the second law of #thermodynamics — the law that dictates an inevitable rise in entropy, a measure of disorder.
If they’re right, complex and intelligent #life should be widespread.
#astrobiology #physics
https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-everything-in-the-universe-turns-more-complex-20250402/
Quanta Magazine · Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex | Quanta MagazineA new suggestion that complexity increases over time, not just in living organisms but in the nonliving world, promises to rewrite notions of time and evolution.
Here it is, finally, the non-nerdy, updated and refined version of the theory of Requisite Inefficiency, which some of you may remember from over a decade ago.
Some of what is not needed for what is known is an indispensable resource to deal with what is unknown.
https://www.linkandth.ink/p/requisite-inefficiency
#complexity
Tickets for #DDDSW are now available. I'm looking forward to talking about managing #complexity in #software design and meeting lots of new people in #Bristol in just a few weeks' time!
See you at Developer Developer Developer South West!
https://dddsouthwest.com/
Hans Busstra interviews theoretical physicist and #complexity scientist #JamesGlattfelder on his new book: “The #SapientCosmos: What a modern-day synthesis of science and philosophy teaches us about the emergence of information, consciousness, and meaning”, published by #EssentiaFoundation.
Can a #newscience bridge the gap between the noumena and the phenomena, the 1st person and the 3rd person perspective? A bit more provocatively: what is the relationship between #physics, #psychedelic experiences and #shamanism? #Glattfelder makes a plea for syncretic idealism: a worldview that synthesises ancient idealist texts and mystical experiences with physics, complexity science and analytic idealism.
#SyncreticIdealism could lead to a #ScientificSpirituality, a form of #empiricalmysticism that acknowledges a purposeful universe, wanting to know itself through ever increasing complexity."
"Bumper sticker explanations of complicated issues are usually wildly inaccurate!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
There are a lot of people with instant insight on everything and yet who are experts at nothing.
Isn't that the way it goes?
If you spend any time talking with anyone today, it would seem that they are suddenly experts on tariffs and their impact on regional, national, and local economies. Everyone is offering up concise statements of what it means, where it will go, and what will happen. I prefer to listen to global trade experts and economists - folks who are trained in this stuff. In the same way, I'd rather listen to a PhD in vaccine medicine than some quack who gets his information off an obscure conspiracy theorist's Website.
That's why ideas like "trickle-down economics will work" statements are always such a false promise. The notion that tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations automatically benefit everyone has been repeatedly challenged by economic research showing limited "trickle-down" effects and increasing wealth inequality. And yet the bumper sticker wisdom lives on.
Why does this happen?
"Bumper sticker" phrases - catchy one-liners about complex issues - sacrifice accuracy for memorability. They fail to address the multiple perspectives, historical context, systemic factors, competing values, and technical details that complex problems involve. They often aren't based on much more than opinions.
The fact is, oversimplifying leads to:
- Overlooking cause-effect complexities
- Creating false either/or scenarios
- Substituting emotion for analysis
- Reinforcing existing beliefs
Good leaders know when simplicity works and when issues demand a deeper explanation. They engage with complexity and guide others through it thoughtfully. They also know that while bumper-sticker wisdom can be popular, it causes more problems than good.
Ironically, my statement about bumper stickers is itself a bumper sticker - though one that points out its limitations!
Perhaps we need simple reminders to look beyond simplicity.
**#Complexity** **#Nuance** **#Understanding** **#Context** **#Depth** **#Oversimplification** **#Analysis** **#Thinking** **#Perspective** **#Knowledge**
Futurist Jim Carroll is willing to admit that perhaps many of his Daily Inspiration posts contain bumper-sticker wisdom. He lives and owns the contradiction.
Continued thread
“Darwin wrote extensively on animal behaviors, local adaptations, and reciprocal relationships that speak to co-creation, not a fixed environment imposing design by negation. Modern complexity theorists have taken these insights further, highlighting how variation and selection act alongside emergent order, morphological constraints, and even convergent evolutionary trends.”
—Matthew Segall, Hans Jonas' "The Phenomenon of Life”
#darwin #complexity #complexitytheory #emergentorder #morphologicalconstraints
—Matthew Segall, Hans Jonas' "The Phenomenon of Life”
#darwin #complexity #complexitytheory #emergentorder #morphologicalconstraints
Ugly programs are like ugly suspension bridges: they're much more liable to collapse than pretty ones, because the way humans (especially engineer-humans) perceive beauty is intimately related to our ability to process and understand complexity. A language that makes it hard to write elegant code makes it hard to write good code.
— Eric Raymond
Can Consonance Be Explained with Mathematical Proportions? The Simplicity and Complexity of Harmonic Relations in Music
https://brill.com/display/book/9789004714540/BP000016.xml
"Numerous speculative theories have been proposed, combining musical harmony with mathematical proportions. The common theme of these theories is the simplicity of ratios corresponding to the perception of musical intervals. In this article, selected definitions of proportion simplicity will be confronted with music practice."
Brill · Chapter 6 Can Consonance Be Explained with Mathematical Proportions?Abstract The article focuses on the ideas of simplicity and complexity used to explain musical consonance and dissonance. Selected historical philosophical and mathematical concepts are compared with experimental research on the perception of music intervals. Multiple explanations of these phenomena in the scientific literature are not fully consistent with music practice. The author outlines a novel model based on synchronization of the cognitive system’s response with the frequency of incoming sounds. The model utilises concepts of harmonic and prime numbers to represent the cognitive simplicity and stability of musical interval proportions.
What is #Intelligence?
In a nutshell: If Life is about #survival and #reproduction, Intelligence is the art of making decisions in a complex world that support these goals, through:
#Modeling – simplify the world
#Feeling – value what matters
https://medium.com/@modfeel/modfeel-coming-soon-in-english-800a209238e5
Medium · Modfeel: Coming Soon in English - Modfeel - Medium