What is

What is complexity? [[It's complicated.]]
[[It's simple.]]

I'm listening... [[Complexity is directly related to what’s unknown.]]
[[It's just that when Venturi wrote Complexity and Contradiction in the sixties he was living in a preinternet preTrumpian age so I think his ideas are too simple for the current sociopolitical technoecological climate but at the same time still relevant to my education.]]

OK, so what is it? [[Complexity was clearly defined by Robert Venturi as something that "embodies the difficult unity of inclusion" and exhibits a "richness of meaning."]]
[[Complexity is synonymous with what Greg Lynn called intricacy... it's the "fusion of disparate elements into continuity" where "a variation of parts is not reducible to the structure of the whole."]]
[[Complexity is the opposite of simplicity.]]
[[Many many things.]]

Try me. [[Complexity can't be reduced to one thing. Attempts to analyze or define it are futile.]]
[[Complexity is a quality so it's subjective. To understand my definition of complexity you'd have to know me and I'm very mysterious.]]

Is complexity more difficult to define than other words? [[No. It's just another word/concept.]]
[[Yes - describing complexity requires more complexity! Aughhhh!]]

Try resisting your nihilistic tendencies.

How mysterious? [[Very.]]
[[Not very. I got tired of thinking about complexity so I changed the topic to me.]]

Who are you? [[Peter Schlemihl's shadow]]
[[The Eye of Sauron]]
[[The moon]]

Yikes.

Cool.

Try resisting your ironic tendencies.

OK, so what is it? [[Complexity can't be reduced to one thing. Attempts to analyze or define it are futile.]]
[[Complexity is a quality so it's subjective. To understand my definition of complexity you'd have to know me and I'm very mysterious.]]

Are you OK? [[Yeah, I'm OK.]]
[[No, I'm freaking out.]]

Alright then, back to the topic... [[Complexity is a quality so it's subjective. To understand my definition of complexity you'd have to know me and I'm very mysterious.]]
[[I just don't think architectural complexity is relevant anymore. There are more pressing issues these days like social inequalities and global warming.]]

Try taking a walk outside. Or get some ice cream. Or... both?

Consider running for political office.

Someone's been keeping up with their history/theory readings.

So it’s a numbers game. Can complexity be qualitative? [[We live in the real world. Everything's a numbers game, baby!]]
[[I guess. I mean, "many" is as much a qualitative measure as a quantitative one.]]

Try resisting your megalomaniacal tendencies.

Try resisting your predilections for vagueness.

Huh? [[Well, every word/concept can be defined by its opposite. Everyone understands what simplicity is because it's what's most basic and straightforward so it's clearer to define complexity on those terms.]]
[[Don't overthink it.]]

Try making a better argument by contributing to the next issue of PLAT.

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What is complexity?

It's complicated.

It's simple.