Primer Home / Simplicity / Puzzling Complexity Using Simplicity

Puzzling Complexity Using Simplicity ^EXEMPLAR

Topic: Simplicity
by Madeleine C, 2019 Cohort

There is no single human who can understand complexity. By nature, however, humans seek simplicity in everything they do. There is no reason for us to do things the ‘hard way’ and we can use this to our advantage when attempting to unravel complexity. Something is complex if it consists of many interconnecting parts. Unravelling complexity is to engage with, understand and navigate complex issues. The final image created by a puzzle can be thought of as a complex problem and each individual puzzle piece is like a solvable sub-problem of the overall challenge. When each piece of a puzzle is evaluated individually, it isn’t complex, instead quite simple in fact. When connected, the system becomes complex and the pieces together, form an amazing image. Why we are unable to understand complexity, is because we haven’t figured out how to engage with it. If we break down something complex, each of the parts individually may be simple, but when connected, they act in unpredictable ways. Without being able to engage with this unpredictability of complexity, complex problems are nearly impossible to navigate.

Within the jigsaw example mentioned above, we can show how humans search for simplicity. The way we solve jigsaw puzzles is by first finding all the corner pieces, followed by creating the edge around the puzzle. The reason we do this is because we are always searching for simplicity and this is the simplest way to begin a jigsaw. We also have many strategies regarding how to fill the centre of the puzzle, including separating the pieces into colours, or using the shapes of pieces to help us. If we were computers, we would try every piece in every position until all the pieces fit correctly, but as we have other, simpler strategies, there is no need for us to make the puzzle more complicated for ourselves than it must be. Simplicity can be used to understand complexity by taking complex issues and breaking them down into simpler sub problems, until reaching a point where we can solve each of the sub problems individually. Unfortunately, we are unsure of what complexity looks like. By solving each of our simpler sub problems separately, we can be wasting effort, while missing the bigger picture. Because of this, we are pushed further from engaging with complexity effectively. When tackling complex problems, you don’t know what the result will look like, like a puzzle. You can attempt to break a complex problem down into sub problems, the puzzles pieces, but as we are unable to see how these will all fit together to create the bigger picture, we find these problems very difficult and confronting to deal with. When looking at a puzzle it is easier if you can see the bigger picture to decide whether pieces fitting together are going to belong where you want to place them. Until we can understand the unpredictability of complex problems, we will be unable to use our nature of seeking simplicity to unravel complexity.

Explore this topic further#

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy{.link-ext target=”_blank”}
• Wikipedia page{.link-ext target=”_blank”}
• How complexity leads to simplicity{.link-ext target=”_blank”} (TED Talk)

Return to Simplicity in the Primer

Disclaimer#

This content has been contributed by a student as part of a learning activity.
If there are inaccuracies, or opportunities for significant improvement on this topic, feedback is welcome on how to improve the resource.
You can improve articles on this topic as a student in "Unravelling Complexity", or by including the amendments in an email to: Chris.Browne@anu.edu.au

There is no single human who can understand complexity. By nature, however, humans seek simplicity in everything they do. There is no reason for us to do things the ‘hard way’ and we can use this to our advantage when attempting to unravel complexity. Something is complex if it consists of many interconnecting parts. Unravelling complexity is to engage with, understand and navigate complex issues. The final image created by a puzzle can be thought of as a complex problem and each individual puzzle piece is like a solvable sub-problem of the overall challenge. When each piece of a puzzle is evaluated individually, it isn’t complex, instead quite simple in fact. When connected, the system becomes complex and the pieces together, form an amazing image. Why we are unable to understand complexity, is because we haven’t figured out how to engage with it. If we break down something complex, each of the parts individually may be simple, but when connected, they act in unpredictable ways. Without being able to engage with this unpredictability of complexity, complex problems are nearly impossible to navigate.

Within the jigsaw example mentioned above, we can show how humans search for simplicity. The way we solve jigsaw puzzles is by first finding all the corner pieces, followed by creating the edge around the puzzle. The reason we do this is because we are always searching for simplicity and this is the simplest way to begin a jigsaw. We also have many strategies regarding how to fill the centre of the puzzle, including separating the pieces into colours, or using the shapes of pieces to help us. If we were computers, we would try every piece in every position until all the pieces fit correctly, but as we have other, simpler strategies, there is no need for us to make the puzzle more complicated for ourselves than it must be. Simplicity can be used to understand complexity by taking complex issues and breaking them down into simpler sub problems, until reaching a point where we can solve each of the sub problems individually. Unfortunately, we are unsure of what complexity looks like. By solving each of our simpler sub problems separately, we can be wasting effort, while missing the bigger picture. Because of this, we are pushed further from engaging with complexity effectively. When tackling complex problems, you don’t know what the result will look like, like a puzzle. You can attempt to break a complex problem down into sub problems, the puzzles pieces, but as we are unable to see how these will all fit together to create the bigger picture, we find these problems very difficult and confronting to deal with. When looking at a puzzle it is easier if you can see the bigger picture to decide whether pieces fitting together are going to belong where you want to place them. Until we can understand the unpredictability of complex problems, we will be unable to use our nature of seeking simplicity to unravel complexity.