What If Simplicity Was The Focus Of Great Men ?
Complex things are not useful; useful things are not complex. Mikail Kalishnakov
He who knows best best knows how little he knows. Thomas Jefferson
It's easy to have a complicated idea. It's very, very hard to have a simple idea. Carver Mead
Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power. Eric Hoffer
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Meade
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein
Compiler of these quotes remains private unless I am instructed otherwise.added 080401
Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction. Albert Einstein
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"Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of words required to explain anything"
William of Ockham (1285-1349)
It is noteable that I've been trying to write about this subject for a while, but I make it too complex :)
Keep trying though:
- http://couldbe.net/What_If_Companies_Got_The_Importance_Of_Design
- http://couldbe.net/What_If_There_Were_7_Principles_+For_Software_Develop...
- http://couldbe.net/same_story_different_position_statement
- http://couldbe.net/What_If_Results_Mattered_In_Software
Will Durant writes in his first of ten volumes Story of Civilization, that primitive languages start out with more words and grow to have less words. In earlier languages, everything has it's own word. Simplicity occurs when the population learns to abstract concepts into more generalized concepts, thus languages grow smaller and simpler as they evolve :)
It is also interesting that early research on ADHD is concluding that this may be one of the challenges of the ADHD mind, it isn't sorting inputs into more generalized concepts as they come in, and as a result becomes overwhelmed with the massive array of sensory and memory induced inputs.
This entire issue is not just academic, for me. I believe with all my being that there really is a more generalized understanding that walks backwards and explains what is currently appearing as more complex. I don't know what that is of course, but I've always believed it's there.
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