“Is he on the level?” and “What level?” are two questions you might ask after learning about Dr. Michael Lamport Commons and the 16 levels he invented. The 16 levels are parts and parcels in Dr. Michael Lamport Commons’s “Model of Hierarchical Complexity.” The model rates how complex a person (or a bacterium) is, compared […]
Tag: complexity
People’s preferences for complex explanations (new study)
Those who are keen on the principle of Occam’s Razor [“Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate” or “Plurality is not to be posited without necessity” or “Keep it simple”] may be surprised, perhaps even dismayed, by a new research project which hints at its unpopularity. “[…] we find that people have a preference for complex […]
The Visual Aesthetics of Snowflakes (new study)
Given a selection of snowflakes – some with simple structures and others more complex – which do people prefer? To find out, Olivia C. Adkins, who is a Graduate Research Assistant at Western Kentucky University, US, and J. Farley Norman, University Distinguished Professor, also at Western Kentucky University, devised at set of experiments. They showed […]
When is a Transport Map Too Complex for Your Brain?
This new study explains, maybe, why so many people feel overwhelmed in navigating a big city by metro or bus. The study is: “Lost in transportation: Information measures and cognitive limits in multilayer navigation,” Riccardo Gallotti, Mason A. Porter, Marc Barthelemy, Science Advances, epub February 19, 2016. The authors, at the Institut de Physique Théorique, France, the […]
The school of complexity
Some like it simple. For those who do not, there is the International School of Complexity: (Thanks to investigator Andrea Rapisarda for bringing the school to our attention.) Earlier in the year, complexity (and Lipschitz-continuous Hessians) will be the subject of a talk at Imperial College London: Worst-case complexity of nonlinear optimization: where do we stand? […]
To Simply Examine the Complexity of the Law
Can you, in some simple way, measure how complex a country’s legal system has gotten? This 41-page study perhaps does exactly that, more or less: “Measuring the Complexity of the Law: The United States Code,” Daniel Martin Katz [pictured here] and Michael James Bommarito II, SSRN report #2307352, August 1, 2013. The study comes equipped with […]
Heath Robinson drawings, if you happen to see them
For engineers, designers, and other persons who love, love love complexity, it’s almost always a good time to go look at some drawings by Heath Robinson. However, evidence suggests that his heirs are a bit on the litigious side, a bit demanding perhaps that Internet sites not show Heath Robinson’s wonderful drawings. So all we […]
A helping of Rube Goldberg, please
For engineers, designers, and all other persons who love, love, love complexity, it’s almost always a good time to visit the Rube Goldberg web site. Here’s a panel from one of Rube Goldberg‘s many cartoons: BONUS: Heath Robinson drawings, if you happen to see them
Eating: It’s complicated
Eating is not as simple as many people seem to believe. An upcoming seminar (at Harvard University, on September 7) promises to drive home that point (which is actually a complicated set of points): On September 7, 2011, Program for Evolutionary Dynamics Seminar Series Presents Kitchen confidential? Knowledge transfer and social norms in gourmet cuisine. […]