Complexity Quotes - Page 34

• You cannot communicate complicated information to large groups of people. As you increase the number of people, you have to decrease the complexity of the information.

  Andy Stanley

  Numbers, People, Groups

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• If we look at the complexity of the challenges facing western societies today, we see that the problems are not really about outsiders, but have their roots much closer to home.

  Mariana Mazzucato

  Home, Roots, Challenges

  Source: www.salon.com

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• There is nothing “still” in the remarkably visceral poems of Alexander Long's third collection, Still Life, and nothing is at rest in these restless and edgy poems. Conversational and kinetic, these poems chart the traces left by the shifting overlays of the templates of literature, rock-and-roll, and contemporary culture. As each poem in Still Life attempts to fix a focus upon a scene or subject, the protean natures under view draw the poet into the eddies and complexities of reflection. This is a powerful and moving collection of poems.

  David St. John

  Powerful, Moving, Reflection

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• It is the last lesson of modern science, that the highest simplicity of structure is produced, not by few elements, but by the highest complexity.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Science, Simplicity, Elements

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.1659, Delphi Classics

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• Because of his capacity for abstract communications and language and his ability to enter in imagination into the lives of others, man is able to build organizations of a size and complexity far beyond those of the lower animals.

  Kenneth E. Boulding

  Communication, Animal, Men

  "The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society". Book by Kenneth E. Boulding, 1956.

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• The evolutionary vision is agnostic in regard to systems in the universe of greater complexity than those of which human beings have clear knowledge. It recognizes aesthetic, moral, and religious ideas and experiences as a species, in this case of mental structures or of images, which clearly interacts with other species in the world's great' ecosystem.

  Kenneth E. Boulding

  Religious, Ecosystems, Ideas

  "Ecodynamics: A New Theory Of Societal Evolution". Book by Kenneth Boulding, 1978.

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• [In science any model depends on a pre-chosen taxonomy] a set of classifications into which we divide the enormous complexity of the real world... Land, labor, and capital are extremely heterogeneous aggregates, not much better than earth, air, fire, and water.

  Kenneth E. Boulding

  Real, Land, Fire

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• A second possible approach to general systems theory is through the arrangement of theoretical systems and constructs in a hierarchy of complexity, roughly corresponding to the complexity of the "individuals" of the various empirical fields... leading towards a "system of systems." [...] I suggest below a possible arrangement of "levels" of theoretical discourse...(vi) [...] the "animal" level, characterized by increased mobility, teleological behavior and self-awareness...

  Kenneth E. Boulding

  Animal, Self, Mobility

  "General systems theory - the skeleton of science". Kenneth E. Boulding, Management Science, Volume 2, No. 3 (pp. 200-201), April 1956.

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• Views of women, on one side, as inwardly directed toward home and family and notions of men, on the other, as outwardly striving toward fame and fortune have resounded throughout literature and in the texts of history, biology, and psychology until they seem uncontestable. Such dichotomous views defy the complexities of individuals and stifle the potential for people to reveal different dimensions of themselves in various settings.

  Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot

  Home, Men, Views

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• Because a garden mean constantly making choices, it offers almost limitless possibilities for surprise and satisfaction.

  Jane Garmey

  Creativity, Mean, Garden

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• The Phoenix Project is a must read for business and IT executives struggling with the growing complexity of IT.

  Jim Whitehurst

  Struggle, Phoenix, Growing

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• I worry that track is going to enter into an impossibly complicated stage, where our understanding of the complexities of human physiology - and our ability to accentuate and exploit them - is going to make the notion of pure competition impossible.

  Malcolm Gladwell

  Track, Worry, Understanding

  "Usain Bolt, a Collapse, and an Epic Beer Mile". Interview with Nicholas Thompson, www.newyorker.com. August 27, 2015.

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• Over time, I started becoming more and more aware of the vastness and complexity of the universe, which led me away from any sort of conventional Christianity.

  Moby

  Vastness, Becoming, Christianity

  "Exclusive Premiere of Moby’s New Video, 'The Last Day'". Interview with Jaeah Lee, www.motherjones.com. September 2, 2014.

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• One of the problems with watching TV is that you've got a fairly low level of language operating all the time. Quite a small vocabulary and really no conceptual or abstract thinking. That's an issue. If you've got a wide vocabulary, you can learn. The complexities of grammar, in themselves, force you to think about time in a particular way. Force you to widen your outlook on the world.

  Jeanette Winterson

  Thinking, Issues, Vocabulary

  Source: americanlibrariesmagazine.org

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• Biology is a way of approaching the truth about the mind. In biology most people don't tackle problems at the level of complexity that psychoanalysis does. But psychoanalysis has a degree of uncertainty about it. A psychoanalyst may have some deep insights, but cannot, at the moment, run experiments to establish whether it's really the truth.

  Eric Kandel

  Running, People, Mind

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• Don't accept the excuse of complexity.

  Keith Rabois

  Excuse, Accepting

  "Lecture 14: How to Operate". Keith Rabois' "How To Start a Startup" lecture to the class at Stanford University in Stanford, California, genius.com. November 6, 2014.

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• The complexity of the language of images is disguised by the ease and rapidity with which we read them. I've tried to make work that is as transparent and simple as possible. No matter how much I strip away the result is always more complex to me than I expect.

  Michael Craig-Martin

  Simple, Ease, Matter

  Source: briansherwin-artcritic.blogspot.com

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• Yeah, leading an examined life, I always say, is a pain in the ass. It adds an element of complexity to business that most businessmen don't want to hear about. They just want to call a fabric manufacturer, and say, "Hey, give us 10,000 yards of shirting."

  Yvon Chouinard

  Business, Pain, Giving

  "The TH Interview: Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia". Interview with Jacob Gordon, www.treehugger.com. February 7, 2008.

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• I would love to photograph Angelina Jolie. A friend of mine is working with her on her next film and told me what I was already suspecting, that she is extremely interesting. I have never seen a picture of her that conveys all of her complexity. That would be a fabulous challenge, to find that in a photograph.

  Peter Lindbergh

  Interesting, Challenges, Would Be

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• For most of modern life, our strong talents and desires for group effort have been filtered through relatively rigid institutional structures because of the complexity of managing groups. We haven't had all the groups we've wanted, we've simply had the groups we could afford. The old limits of what unmanaged and unpaid groups can do are no longer in operation.

  Clay Shirky

  Strong, Effort, Political

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• The aspects of global warming that matter most to people - how rapidly will the seas rise? Are hurricanes already getting stronger? How strong will they get as a result of warming? Those are still immersed in complexity. So in those realms that catch people's attention most, or that get used as symbols by environmental campaigners, those facets really do come with significant back-and-forthing.

  Andrew Revkin

  Strong, Sea, People

  "Q&A: Andrew C. Revkin". Mother Jones Interview, www.motherjones.com. November/December 2008.

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• I like what Barcelona is doing. This city almost perfectly combines its natural advantages with cultural attractions, IT parks and first-rate educational opportunities. The same applies for Dublin, which manages to achieve a blend of complexity, tolerance and artistry and makes a point of not devoting every part of the city to the tourism industry. Sometimes creativity also means forgoing short-term profits and simply saying no.

  Charles Landry

  Educational, Mean, Creativity

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• That it should be the questions and shape of a life, its total complexity gathered, arranged, and considered, which matters in the end, not some stamp of salvation or damnation that disperses all the complexity into some unsatisfying little decision - the balancing of scales.

  Tony Kushner

  Decision, Shapes, Littles

  Tony Kushner (2013). “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition”, p.39, Theatre Communications Group

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• I don't [believe in God]. I have a problem with religion or anything else that says, 'We have all the answers,' because there's no such thing as 'the answers.' We're complex. We change our minds on issues all the time. Religion leaves no room for human complexity.

  Daniel Radcliffe

  Believe, Issues, Mind

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• We are living in complex, difficult times and I wanted Syriana to reflect this complexity in a visceral way, to embrace it narratively. There are no good guys and no bad guys and there are no easy answers. The characters do not have traditional character arcs; the stories don't wrap up in neat little life lessons, the questions remain open. The hope was that by not wrapping everything up, the film will get under your skin in a different way and stay with you longer. This seemed like the most honest reflection of this post 9-11 world we all find ourselves in.

  Stephen Gaghan

  Life Lesson, Character, Reflection

  "Syriana - Preview" by Jack Foley, www.indielondon.co.uk.

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