On Complexity

Complexity is the single greatest evil in society.  Although complexity is not often present in physical forms, it is a real issue that confronts us all. rooting out complexity in all of it's forms is at the center of what is needed to wholly advance the human condition.

    Complexity manifests in human life both organically, and  inorganically  It is not so easy to root out organic sources of complexity in human life, but inorganic complexity need not exist in society.  In one sense, complexity is a regressive tax that most adversely impacts the poorest amongst us, but complexity adversely impacts everyone on the planet in one form or another. It is found in the complexities of  commerce, of employment and other barriers to freely engage in the pursuit of happiness.

    Complexity can be found within the social contract of every society, but is most tangible in convoluted laws and social mandates that truly have no legitimate purpose.  Complexity is often a side effect of human innovation, but is generally found in systems that are poorly engineered, or are engineered based on flawed assunmptions.

    There is a moral obligation to root out complexity whereever it is found.  One of the most common sources of complexity in the modern era is software complexity.   Software complexity produces a vast number of social problems:

1) Software systems embody certain business logic or rules, which may not align with social norms or standards.  A person may be denied a job, benefits or access to goods or services because the software fails to accept that person's inputs into the system.

2) Software may compute an outcome that is substandard from a human perspective an the user may not be satisfied with that outcome.

3) Software may replace a human in a job such as cashiering cooking, and even computer programming.

Perhaps we can assure ourselves that these outcomes are certainly for the greater good.  Who needs to do menial jobs?  Who cares if outcomes aren't perfect, because life isn't perfect. If a computer's logic doesn't align with social norms, what's the problem?  Well, tell that to someone who places much importance on pronouns when the software uses only "he and "she".