“I think that systems that are based on employment are illogical and attempts to meet them create all sorts of unnecessary complexities.” ThinkingEmploymentComplexityUnnecessaryIllogical Author:Kenneth Arrow
“In Dogen's writing, the practical instruction, philosophy and poetry are together in one voice. People hear about his poetry, go to his work, and expect to find poetry, or they hear about his philosophy and expect to find philosophy. They look just for practical instruction and find poetry and philosophy. They can't make out the complexity of his writing, become frustrated and let him go.” PeopleWritingLooksPhilosophyTogetherVoicePracticalsComplexityInstructionFrustratedMake OutLet Him Go Author:Kazuaki Tanahashi
“New laws, new kinds of things can emerge as the universe evolves. The more moving parts you have in something, the more possibilities there are. There's a whole new science now of complexity, and what we see is that complexity requires a very different approach than the kind of bottom-up approach that fundamental physics has always used. We're gonna have to think about the world in a different way if we want to address complex systems.” IfsThinkingWorldWayWantKindDifferentWholeMovingLawUsedUniversePossibilityApproachFundamentalsComplexesBottomPhysicsEvolveDifferent WaysComplexityAddressesComplex SystemsDifferent ApproachMoving Parts Author:Adam Frank
“The beauty of evolution is that it does provide an explanation of how you can get complexity out of simplicity. It does it by slow, gradual degree. At no point are you postulating the sudden coming into existence of a complicated being.” DoeExistenceEvolutionDegreesSimplicityComplicatedExplanationComplexityNo Point Author:Richard Dawkins
“I end up liking politicians, both left and right, who talk about political matters as if they are addressing a bunch of adults, as if they are capable of handling both complexity and emotional responsibility.” IfsEndsMatterPoliticalLeftResponsibilityEmotionalPoliticianCapableAdultsBunchComplexityLeft And Right Author:Rachel Maddow
“For the book to succeed, it has to have equal parts ugliness and beauty, counterpoints adding up to emotional complexity. To me, there's a dignity in letting your art be emotionally complex.” ArtBookEmotionalSucceedEqualArt IsDignityComplexesComplexityUgliness Author:Joshua Mohr
“I truly think any preparation you do only helps and adds dimension and complexity to the work [as an actor].” ThinkingHelpingActorsAddPreparationComplexityDimensions Author:Tom Hiddleston
“The continuous networks of neural circuitry accomplish their functions using multiple, independently discovered strategies. The brain lends itself well to the complexity of the world, but poorly to clear-cut cartography.” WorldWellsBrainClearCuttingFunctionStrategyAccomplishComplexityMultipleCartography Author:David Eagleman
“I don't think you would have any trouble at all in deciding that you are thinking of some event and then visualizing it happening with its consequences, and constructing a rational analysis of it without being able to verbalize it adequately in anything like its full complexity.” ThinkingAbleTroubleEventsHappeningsConsequenceRationalAnalysisComplexityVisualizing Author:Noam Chomsky
“If you lose yourself to rage in the complexity of battle, you are going to be lost.” IfsLostLosesBattleRageComplexityLosing Yourself Author:George Friedman
“People want their reason for living to be a singular thing, like a career or a relationship, because this makes an individual feel secure in the physical world. We don't fare well in the realm of the invisible - so telling someone that their purpose is multilayered and includes the arduous journey of discovering who they really are is not always the answer they want to hear. But consider the complexity of the question: "What is my reason for living?" How can that question not include a journey into the depths of your own life?” PeopleWorldWantFeelsWellsReasonPurposeIndividualAnswersCareersJourneyDepthInvisibleSecureRealmsComplexityDiscovering Author:Caroline Myss
“Having worked my way from the bottom of the ladder to the top [of the UN] certainly helped me navigate that complexity, both political and bureaucratic.” WayPoliticalBottomMy WayComplexityLaddersNavigate Author:Kofi Annan
“As "Calvin and Hobbes" went on, the writing pushed the drawings into greater complexity. One of the jokes I really like is that the fantasies are drawn more realistically than reality, since that says a lot about what's going on in Calvin's head.” WritingRealityFantasyGreaterJokesDrawingComplexityHobbes Author:Bill Watterson
“I am most interested in people. I try to capture their complexity and contradiction and beauty. It does not matter where they are from.” PeopleTryingDoeMatterComplexityContradictionCapture Author:Kwame Dawes
“There is salvation - happiness and virtue - in beauty. I would define beauty in this context as a kind of richness, complexity, mystery, diversity, otherness, and unexpectedness - something that comes from the outside.” KindVirtueMysteryDiversitySalvationComplexity Author:Elif Batuman
“Female sexuality is presented in our culture as a male fantasy, which doesn't include the reality of the abuse, the pleasure, the pain, the power, the complexity of women's sexuality.” RealityPainCulturePleasureFantasyFemaleAbuseSexualityComplexity Author:Deborah Kampmeier
“I would be ok if I found out for sure that if I am in any way superior to a wolf it is simply in virtue of my brain's higher capacity and complexity. A large difference - my cerebral equipment allows me to have such diverse concepts as "hope", "funky", "England", "multiplication", "three strikes" and "the categorical imperative" - but a difference in degree. Wolves, of course, are superior to me with regards to smelling, hearing, and running, and are generally superior to humans in that they don't kill each other.” RunningVirtueComplexityDiverseFunky Author:Nomy Arpaly
“In 2008 we suffered an economic catastrophe, and the rules of the game fundamentally changed forever. A few years ago, you might hear a leader talking about doing things "the way we've always done it." No more. Today, nearly every industry is in the midst of massive upheaval. Today, we live in a world of dizzying speed, exponential complexity, and ruthless competition. Leaders today realize they need to innovate, and their chief concerns now focus on fostering creative and innovation within their organizations.” WorldDoneTodayRealizingLeaderForeverCreativeFocusEconomicChangedConcernInnovationCompetitionSpeedComplexityCatastrophe Author:Josh Linkner
“Women face a lot of challenges every day - we have to stand firm in our walk and our intentions - but there are times when that weight feels too heavy, feels like a load that I just can't bear that day. I try to work through that in my art, whatever medium that might be. My live performance is based around the color red, and all the things that communicates as a woman to the world - fiery, really vocal, present, almost a kind of stubborn color - and redefining it as being very complex. Being able to express that complexity, I'm getting a lot better at that the older I've gotten.” WorldTryingKindArtChallengesIntentionCommunicateFirmComplexityStubbornStand Firm Author:Solange Knowles
“When I did some research on child marriage, I realized there were no photographs that showed what it looked like. But the more you dig into something complex, the more you realize how much there is to learn. That's why I've taken so many years to unravel the complexities of the issue and how it continues to be similar and different in different countries and communities.” ChildrenDifferentCountryRealizingCommunityTakenPhotographI RealizedComplexity Author:Stephanie Sinclair
“I think I'll always feel a little in awe whenever I see someone in their 20s or 30s carrying a cello or violin case - because I know, if they're doing it professionally, how many years of practice have gone into being able to make music with them. And the sounds they can make just hit me very hard, and feel full of limitless complexity.” ThinkingComplexityAweLimitless Author:Jonny Greenwood
“At the end of the day, I really go with my personal taste and with what's on the page in terms of character. But beyond that, there's a complexity about the scripts I tend to respond to. I've not lost my curiosity about how the world functions. And a script that can embody that and thematically explore bigger questions in a way which seems fresh is likely to get my attention. Frankly, I also have an eye for what will appeal to an audience, as opposed to a self-indulgent exercise that isn't taking the audience into account.” WorldCharacterEyeTermAttentionAudienceExerciseCuriosityComplexity Author:Carmen Ejogo
“What differentiates human from lower-animal consciousness is time. You can't explain the concept of "tomorrow" to your dog. Our consciousness is dominated by time - We're constantly running simulations of the future. Our brain is a prediction machine. The hallmark of intelligence, indeed of genius, is the number and complexity of the feedback loops we use in predicting the future.” RunningBrainConsciousnessDogGeniusTomorrowComplexityFeedbackHallmark Author:Michio Kaku
“Poetry can explain individuals to ourselves, and change our attitudes, and help us see the complexity of the world, but the kind of poetry I follow isn't going to change public opinion directly. Other art forms can - if you're a TV writer, you have some interesting challenges, or if you're a country musician, somebody like Brad Paisley. But poetry not so much.” WorldKindArtCountryHelpingIndividualChallengesInterestingAttitudeOpinionMusicianComplexitySome Interesting Author:Stephen Burt
“Durable, memorable poetry is usually alert to complexity. A really good poem gives you a reason to read it 20 times, because the language in a good poem is doing a lot of work emotionally and a lot of work intellectually. That means durable poetry can help us think about complexity, can help us resist easy answers and help us step back. And it can help us sometimes calm down, and sometimes it can help us stay upset.” ThinkingGivingMeanSometimesReasonHelpingLanguageEasyCalmUpsetMemorableComplexityPoetry IsCalm Down Author:Stephen Burt
“I really like the complexity of jazz, the emotional depth; I feel like there's no other music that's really as satisfying as jazz.” EmotionalJazzComplexity Author:Jose James
“The thing I have in common with Donald Trump is about a dozen years ago, we got a "Man of the Year" award in New York City, the Hotel Plaza from the USO. So I met him once and I found him to be very personable. He asked excellent questions throughout the 45 minutes that I was with him. Very, very engaged and very curious about the world and its complexity. Something, let's be honest, that he and many of his close in advisers that he's selected don't have a lot of knowledge about.” MenWorldCommonHonestCuriousBeing HonestExcellentComplexityHotel Author:Jack Keane
“None of us are rational economic men as we're supposed to be portrayed in economic theory where mixes of passions, of desires, of moral principles, of self-deception, of altruism, of concern of others, of concerns for ourselves and an interest in our bank accounts. And social policies have to be responsive to the complexity of who we are as people or else, like the war on drugs, they're simply going to fail.” PeopleMenWarDesirePassionInterestMoralFailingEconomicPolicyDrugConcernRationalComplexityAltruismWar On Drugs Author:Dale Jamieson
“There are some people, who I'll charitably call snobs, who are dismissive of any conversation that doesn't begin with the full level of complexity. That's just not how the world works.” PeopleWorldComplexitySnob Author:Malcolm Gladwell
“Good people can do terrible things, and that's what life is all about, the complexities and grey areas. And often characters aren't written that way in movies, especially characters for women. So you end up being either one thing or the other.” PeopleCharacterTerribleComplexityGood People Author:Emily Mortimer
“What I do is to collaborate with each actor and work one-on-one to create a character. And that is a matter of huge complexity and is a combination of a great deal of discussion and a lot of practical work. It involves a lot of consideration for the real people out there, and all kinds of sources of real people. The result is the character. But I'm not supposed to talk about what it is we do, because it's nobody's business.” PeopleKindRealCharacterAll KindsDiscussionComplexityConsideration Author:Mike Leigh
“Strategic thinkers were naturally rattled to find this outsider fooling around with their work. They had been thinking strategically when Reagan was just another movie actor playing opposite a chimpanzee, for heaven's sake. They think Reagan is too naive, too innocent, to grasp the intellectual complexities of cold war strategy.” ThinkingWarActorsHeavenColdIntellectualOppositesStrategySakeInnocentComplexityThinkerOutsidersCold WarNaiveStrategicChimpanzeesWar StrategyMovie ActorsFooling Around Author:Russell Baker
“I don't think poetry needs to be "easily understandable." First of all, there are often complexities of syntax, form, unfamiliar absences, etc., that require a deeper concentration than is usually demanded of us. So that, right off the bat, is a little difficult. Then there is the deeper issue of what poetry is really asking of us. I feel it is asking us to read with great, even sacred, care and attention. That, too, is difficult. It requires discipline and the creation of a temporary zone of privacy, which is inimical to our current conditions of life.” ThinkingCareDifficultAttentionCreationDisciplineAbsenceComplexityPrivacyZoneConcentrationPoetry IsTemporary Author:Matthew Zapruder
“Irreducible complexity is a problem for Darwinian evolution. Whenever we see these complex functional systems we realise that they have to be designed.” ProblemEvolutionComplexityRealising Author:Michael Behe
“I wouldn't want to be so presumptuous as to suggest what my neighbors should or shouldn't do. Great insights might come out of drug dealing and prostitution. I'm not qualified to say. Not that I would promote those practices. I just respect the complexity of their cultural ecosystem and think it would be pretty lame, not to mention fruitless, to waltz in with some kind of reformative agenda.” ThinkingKindDrugInsightNeighborComplexityPresumptuousWaltz Author:Kirsha Kaechele
“I was a huge fan of this band called Sparks. It was a pretty good inauguration to music since their music is quite complex. They were a little glammy, and me - being a kid and not really understanding the complexity of grown-up lyrics - I took the best out of it. But at the same time, it was mysterious enough and too far away from me for me to really be able to reach it. But they were my first love affair in the world of music. I loved that band.” WorldEnoughKidsUnderstandingMusic IsAffairMysteriousComplexityFar AwayFirst LoveLove AffairInaugurationBeing A Kid Author:Johan Renck
“I didn't struggle to find my style - I prefer to call it "voice," because I think the word is more suggestive of complexity, implying quality of form and content. I do, however, struggle with making my work "work," and there's no predicting whether this can be achieved calmly or with a ferocious evisceration of the psyche.” ThinkingQualityStruggleStyleComplexity Author:Phoebe Gloeckner
“I'm not trying to create a stand-in or avatar with whom the reader can identify, but separate, believable characters with distinct personalities; I'm trying to place the reader more in the role of observer rather than that of participant. I think this approach comes out of my own personal desire and struggle to understand our world, and the complex interactions of people with one another and their environment. My work is an improvised exploration of this complexity, as opposed to a structured, plot-driven narrative.” PeopleThinkingWorldTryingCharacterDesireStruggleEnvironmentPersonalityComplexityExploration Author:Jason Lutes
“Storytelling is one of comics' esthetic hurdles at the moment, which was the novelist's problem 150 years ago: namely, to take comics from storytelling into that of "writing," the major distinction between the two to me being that the former gives one the facts, but the latter tries to recreate the sensation and complexities of life within the fluidity of consciousness and experience. As far as I'm concerned, that's really all I've been trying to do formally for the past decade or more with comics, and it's certainly time-consuming, since it has to be done with drawings, not words.” GivingWritingTryingDoneMomentsProblemPastConsciousnessConcernedStorytellingComplexityHurdle Author:Chris Ware
“I would say that Futurama: Bender's Big Score requires a lot of concentration to watch. It's a very complicated time-travel story. Part of the joke on that was just that the complexity would be over the top. This one is a more straight-forward science-fiction story, I would say. Alien invasion and people running in terror, that kind of thing, with a slight twist of there being an inappropriate physical relationship with the big octopus monster. We've got a straight-up science-fiction movie.” PeopleKindRunningJokesTerrorComplicatedAliensComplexityConcentrationInappropriate Author:David X. Cohen
“I love these appeals to the "complexity of doing business in Alaska." If you want to live in remote villages or places with hostile weather and environment, that's certainly your right. But why is it you please continue to expect that the rest of us are responsible for making that economically feasible. You already get a big boost from oil and other natural resources. If that's not enough to pay for the infrastructure you say you need, maybe you should consider moving down here. No passport or work visa is required.” EnoughMovingNaturalEnvironmentResponsibleComplexityNatural ResourcesVisa Author:Steven Pearlstein
“Video game engines can handle the kind of complexity and realism you can't put into a movie - yet. But games are getting better and better - I imagine a day where you won't be able to tell a game from a movie, with great A.I. animation and photoreal, interactive environments, etc.” KindEnvironmentImagineGet BetterComplexityAnimation Author:Mark Walton
“Religion, if it is genuine, is so profoundly interwoven with individual thought and experience that it is no more exhaustible than consciousness itself. And fiction whose purpose is didactic is bad no matter whether the matter to be "taught" is Christianity or the world view of Ayn Rand. It seems often to be assumed by writers that religion is a pose, meant to deceive oneself or others, or that it is a bad patch on doubt or complexity. This is only convention, however. The writers I know have a much deeper engagement with the real issues of religion.” WorldRealPurposeIndividualConsciousnessChristianityDoubtOneselfComplexityDeceivingWorld View Author:Marilynne Robinson
“With a live music performance, the ideas of the richness and complexity of our inner and outer worlds - the emotional world and the external world, like the planets, the weather, and the universe are really washing over you. Your body feels the intention more than your mind analyzing intellectually too much. I've always tried to do this in my music, to make it very direct and bodily, so that it communicates itself immediately, even to someone without prior knowledge of it.” WorldMindUniverseEmotionalDirectIntentionCommunicateComplexityOver You Author:Sophie
“I think that because most films where there's a teenager, it's aimed at a teenage audience. Restless is - I wouldn't classify it as a teen film, strictly, but it's definitely a film that appeals to young people, but also gives them credit for their complexity.” PeopleThinkingGivingFilmAudienceTeenagerComplexityTeenageRestless Author:Mia Wasikowska
“My hope is that I'm going to continue to make more and more challenging work that's going to come out more and more interesting. I don't know if that will always continue to happen, but every one of my films has definitely been a progression as far as complexity of narrative, character, and plot.” CharacterFilmChallengesInterestingComplexityProgression Author:Darren Aronofsky
“The latest thing that has caught me by surprise is Maryanne Amacher. I like sound that affects the listener physically. Traits such as complexity or simplicity don't really become a factor then. It's just the sound that I pay attention to.” AttentionSurpriseSimplicityPay AttentionComplexityTraits Author:Kevin Drumm
“People are storytelling creatures. We like stories that go somewhere, and therefore we like trends - because trends are things that either get better or get worse, so we can either rejoice or lament. But we mistakenly depict many things as trends moving in some direction. We take the "full house" of variation in a system and try to represent it as a single number, when in fact what we should be doing is studying the variation as it expands and contracts. If you look at the history of the variation in all its complexity, then you see there's no trend.” PeopleTryingMovingHouseStudyStorytellingGet BetterComplexityRejoiceLament Author:Stephen Jay Gould
“I think there are great roles for women in television because there is time to allow those characters to evolve. Even if you're the wife or the girlfriend or whatever it is that we women are, playing those things on TV, they are much more drawn out and there are greater arcs for the role. The roles are more integral to the complexity of the story.” ThinkingCharacterWifeEvolveGirlfriendComplexity Author:Linda Cardellini
“Today there are a huge number of think tanks working on poverty-related issues; there are books written on the topic; and university centers being created to study poverty. But, at the same time, the media has a terribly hard time with this issue; it's very hard to convince editors and publishers to devote resources to complex investigations of the lives of America's poor. And, as a result, too often poverty is portrayed in stereotypes, in sound bites, in a few pat images rather than in its full Technicolor complexity and diversity.” ThinkingBookTodayPoorPovertyStudyDiversityComplexityHard TimesConvinceStereotype Author:Sasha Abramsky