19 October 2006

18 Oct--Complex vs Complicated, pt. I

So many philosophers, thinkers, or just laymen try to reduce "life" to a simple phrase. "Life is" this or "life is" that--sometimes based in humour, other times seriously grasping at some great thought. It all works to show, however, that life is not complex; life is complicated. Think of the difference between a spider's web and a jumbled ball of fishing lines, twine, and frays from a disused rope. The former represents the complex; the latter, complicated. The complex represents something where the design or message is immediately recognizable, but which also reveals a greater architecture upon further investigation. In light of a late Spring evening, Jamie observes a spider's web strings catching and losing insects, debris, and the light. And in very little time he is struck by its apparently simple beauty. Yet leaning close he is able to trace a precise geometry; he notes the points on which the spider has attached the web to branches, a fence post, and the ground; he stands back in admiration, "Well done, spider," he says, "No line wasted, no line desired--very well orchestrated."

A mangled pile of lines, on the other hand, is complicated.

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