Quotes About Complexity

Pragmatism has a family resemblance to existentialism and phenomenology and arose out of the same social manifold. This philosophy, or method, derives chiefly from William James — a man so complex that his books land in the philosophy section of some bookstores and libraries, the psychology section elsewhere, and sometimes even appear in the religion section. Like existentialism, pragmatism rejects spooky abstractions and most of the vocabulary of traditional philosophy.

You see, the position of this book does not embrace what I call Fundamentalist Copenhagenism — the view that the Copenhagen model says the last word forever. Rather, I consider my position Liberal Copenhagenism. I do not believe any model equals the universe, or universes, but I think alternative models will continue to proliferate, because the data of modern science has grown so complex that many models will cover it.

Every Real Universe is easy to understand, because it is much simpler than the existential continuum. Theists, Nazis, Flat Earthers, etc. can explain their Real Universes as quickly as any Fundamentalist Materialist explains his, because of this simplicity of the edited object as contrasted with the complexity of the sensory-sensual continuum in which we live when awake (unhypnotized).

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who do not.

gadgets on the sides and a big silver whatchamacallit on the end. I sit in the center of this whoozis, like I say, and out there in the other room they are turning switches and pressing buttons and pulling levers and twirling dials and then they press a lot of do-funnys. The whole apparatus is sort of like one of those you-knows. Only with a lot more mechanisms. See?

Chee was clearly mystified and impressed at the vagaries of the federal system.

Pike's mouth twitched, and Cole wondered if Larkin had noticed that Pike never laughed or smiled. As if the part of a man who could feel that free was dead in Pike, or buried so deep that only a twitch could escape.

I have come to hold that Causality is not composed exclusively of determinist, individualist, or random elements, but from a combination of all three.

We are as different from one another on the inside of our heads as we appear to be different from one another on the outside of our heads.

The boredom will go away once you enter the cycle. The panic disappears after repeated exposure. The frustration is a sign of progress—a signal that your mind is processing complexity and requires more practice. The insecurities will transform into their opposites when you gain mastery.

If there is any instrument you must fall in love with and fetishize, it is the human brain—the most miraculous, awe-inspiring, information-processing tool devised in the known universe, with a complexity we can't even begin to fathom, and with dimensional powers that far outstrip any piece of technology in sophistication and usefulness.

In the future, the great division will be between those who have trained themselves to handle these complexities and those who are overwhelmed by them—those who can acquire skills and discipline their minds and those who are irrevocably distracted by all the media around them and can never focus enough to learn.

It's not actually that hard to be an expert on Iran. You only need to know two phrases: I don't know and it depends.

Never try to understand a woman. It will drive you insane, and you still won't understand.

As we introduce complex and abstract questions to our mind, the problem-solving part of our brain recognizes that we are now dealing with intricate social issues and not physical threats. When we present our brain with a demanding question, our body sends precious blood to the parts of our brain that help us think and away from the parts of our body that help us take flight or begin a fight.

She had just killed a man and Dan wanted to kiss her, and in those two facts, ironically, lay the difference that would probably always remain between them.

The simplest things are the hardest to understand.

Men are easy,' he said, fingers tapping on his mahogany desk. 'A man's plumbing is like his mind: simple, very few surprises. You ladies, on the other hand...well, God put a lot of thought into making you.

The problem, of course, was that [he] saw the world in black and white. And he got to decide what was black and what was white. You can't love a person who lives that way without fearing him too. Maybe even hating him a little.

Human behavior is messy and unpredictable and unconcerned with convenient symmetries.

In my experience, men who understand women seem to rarely want to have anything to do with them.

A man's plumbing is like his mind: simple, very few surprises. You ladies, on the other hand...well, God put a lot of thought in making you.

How could I be such an open book to him when, half the time, I had no idea what was milling around in his head?

You can't love a person who lives that way without fearing him too. Maybe even hating him a littele