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Complexity Quotes

Browse 1197 quotes about Complexity.

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Complexity Quotes

“The inherent non-linearity of the digital allows for more input from others, including the subject and reader as collaborators. The top-down, bedtime-style story is of limited use. A non-linear narrative that allows for increased complexity and depth, and encourages both subject and reader to have greater involvement, will eventually emerge more fully from the digital environment. This, in a sense, is the more profound democratization of media.”

StoriesUseEnvironmentGreaterSubjectsMediaStyleReaderProfoundDepthIncludingNarrativeComplexityDigitalInherentInvolvementLinearInputBedtimeCollaboratorsTop DownDemocratization
Author:Fred Ritchin
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“Nowadays theologians aren't quite so straightforward as Paley. They don't point to complex living mechanisms and say that they are self-evidently designed by a creator, just like a watch. But there is a tendency to point to them and say 'It is impossible to believe' that such complexity, or such perfection, could have evolved by natural selection. Whenever I read such a remark, I always feel like writing 'Speak for yourself' in the margin.”

FeelsWritingBelieveSelfSpeakNaturalWatchesImpossiblePerfectionComplexesCreatorTendenciesComplexityMechanismSelectionTheologianRemarksMarginsStraightforwardNatural Selection
Book:The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design
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“Watching 40 mile chunks of ice break off of Antarctica will change your life forever, but realizing that driving a car, or flying a plane, or having a nice steak, or drinking from a plastic bottle all contributed to the destruction of the environment - it's a bit complex, but music needs to pave the way for getting people to think about this kind of complexity. I'm just doing my share.”

PeopleThinkingWayNeedsKindBitsRealizingBreakForeverEnvironmentNiceShareCarDestructionDrinkingComplexesDrivingMilesFlyingIcePlanesComplexityBottlesPlasticChanging Your LifeSteakChunksAntarcticaBreak OffPlastic Bottles
Author:DJ Spooky
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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.”

PeopleStillsMatterUsedStrongResultsAttentionSeaAspectStrongerEnvironmentalSignificantSymbolsRealmsComplexityGlobal WarmingHurricanesFacetsStrong WillGetting Stronger
Author:Andrew Revkin
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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.”

FirstsMeanSometimesOpportunityTermNaturalCitiesCreativityAchieveIndustryAdvantageRateProfitEducationalAttractionToleranceManageComplexityParksShort TermTourismSaying NoArtistryBarcelonaDublinTourism Industry
Author:Charles Landry
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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.”

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Book:Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition
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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.”

WorldWayLittlesDifferentCharacterStoriesWantedFilmGuyEasyDifficultAnswersHonestLessonsReflectionSkinsEmbraceComplexesTraditionalPostsDifferent WaysComplexityLife LessonBad GuysDifficult TimesWrapsNeatGood GuyArcsVisceralWrappingEasy Answers
Author:Stephen Gaghan
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“No matter how exotic human civilization becomes, no matter the developments of life and society nor the complexity of the machine/human interface, there always come interludes of lonely power when the course of humankind, the very future of humankind, depends upon the relatively simple actions of single individual.”

HumansMatterActionCoursesIndividualSimpleDependsDevelopmentCivilizationLonelyMachinesComplexityHumankindExoticInterfacesHuman Civilization
Book:Dune Messiah
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“The most powerful words in English are 'Tell me a story,' words that are intimately related to the complexity of history, the origins of language, the continuity of the species, the taproot of our humanity, our singularity, and art itself. I was born into the century in which novels lost their stories, poems their rhymes, paintings their form, and music its beauty, but that does not mean I had to like that trend or go along with it. I fight against these movements with every book I write.”

WritingMeanDoeArtBookStoriesFormHumanityFightingLostLanguageBornPowerfulNovelCenturyMovementPaintingSpeciesRelatedComplexityMost PowerfulTrendsRhymeContinuitySingularityPowerful Words
Author:Pat Conroy
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“Cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable stages: determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, discover the ideal technology for that approach, and in the meantime, make the smartest application of the technology that you already have - whether it's something sophisticated, like a drug, or something simpler, like a bednet.”

RunningGoalTechnologyFourCuttingStageDrugApproachHighestSolutionsIdealsDetermineComplexityApplicationSophisticatedPredictable
Author:Bill Gates
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“A sermon is a form that yields a certain kind of meaning in the same way that, say, a sonnet is a form that deals with a certain kind of meaning that has to do with putting things in relation to each other, allowing for the fact of complexity reversal, such things. Sermons are, at their best, excursions into difficulty that are addressed to people who come there in order to hear that.”

PeopleWayKindFactsFormCertainOrderDealsDifficultyRelationComplexityYieldAllowingSermonsSonnetReversalExcursions
Author:Marilynne Robinson
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“Those who dislike fantasy are very often equally bored or repelled by science. They don't like either hobbits, or quasars; they don't feel at home with them; they don't want complexities, remoteness. If there is any such connection, I'll bet that it is basically an aesthetic one”

IfsWantFeelsHomeFantasyConnectionsBoredComplexityDislikeAestheticRemotenessQuasars
Book:The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction
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“No decision-making system is going to guarantee corporate success. The strategic decisions that corporations have to make are of mind-numbing complexity. But we know that the more power you give a single individual in the face of complexity and uncertainty, the more likely it is that bad decisions will get made.”

KnowsGivingMindMadeFacesIndividualDecisionCorporateUncertaintyCorporationsComplexityGuaranteesDecision MakingStrategicBad DecisionNumbing
Book:The Wisdom of Crowds
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“On one planet [earth], and possibly only one planet in the entire universe, molecules that would normally make nothing more complicated than a chunk of rock, gather themselves together into chunks of rock-sized matter of such staggering complexity that they are capable of running, jumping, swimming, flying, seeing, hearing, capturing and eating other such animated chunks of complexity; capable in some cases of thinking and feeling, and falling in love with yet other chunks of complex matter.”

ThinkingMatterFeelingsRunningEarthTogetherFallUniverseCasesSeeingRocksPlanetsEatingCapableComplexesFalling In LoveComplicatedHearingFlyingComplexitySwimmingJumpingAnimatedMoleculesPlanet EarthChunksStaggering
Author:Richard Dawkins
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“If every museum in the New World were emptied, if every famous building in the Old World were destroyed and only Venice saved, there would be enough there to fill a full lifetime with delight. Venice, with all its complexity and variety, is in itself the greatest surviving work of art in the world.”

IfsWorldArtEnoughWould BeBuildingLifetimeDelightSavedDestroyedVarietyComplexityWorks Of ArtMuseumsNew WorldSurvivingVeniceOld WorldVery Famous
Book:The Essays, Articles and Reviews of Evelyn Waugh
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“The study of geography is about more than just memorizing places on a map. It's about understanding the complexity of our world, appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across continents. And in the end, it's about using all that knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together.”

PeopleWorldEndsHelpingTogetherCultureUnderstandingStudyDiversityAppreciateBridgesComplexityMapsOur WorldDividesContinentsGeographyCultural DiversityMemorizing
Author:Barack Obama
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