Coding for Complexity
I’ve always had a soft spot for the work of Adam Curtis. His latest series, Can’t Get You Out of My Head , has caused me to think more deeply about a recent project; producing a National Model Design Code for the UK with MHCLG . In typical Curtis style the series seeks to tackle an ambitious grab-bag of themes, but what struck me was a section on the simplification of data required for humans to understand the complexity of the world. Simplification of complexity for the purpose of understanding is the essence of what the National Model Design Code is seeking to do. Questions have been asked both about the validity of such an aim, and the ability of a codified process to create intangible outcomes like “beauty”. Embracing Complexity In around 300 BC Aristotle tried to define what it means to be virtuous. “Virtue” stands on the podium with “Beauty” in the Indefinable Concept Olympics and Aristotle understandably struggled. He said virtue means behaving in the “...