From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fac41,b41c6348841d8091 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,b41c6348841d8091 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: mheaney@ni.net (Matthew Heaney) Subject: Re: subjectivity Date: 1997/09/05 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 270153588 References: <341026A7.37BE@pseserv3.fw.hac.com> Organization: Estormza Software Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.eiffel Date: 1997-09-05T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article <341026A7.37BE@pseserv3.fw.hac.com>, "W. Wesley Groleau x4923" wrote: >Since you and other(s), by your own admission, have "different >ideas of what is simple," you should acknowledge that it is not >"uniformly recognisable by everyone." Hence, it is subjective >except when, in a particular forum, all participants agree on >(in your words) "what measurable qualities engender the notion >of simplicity and ... an 'objective' basis for measuring it." Here's a quote relevent to this thread: The idea that complexity is directly related to people's psychological being was recognized by Ashby. He argues that complexity depends on people's interests: "to the neurophysiologist the brain, as a feltwork of fibers and a soup of enzymes, is certainly complex; and equally the transmission of a detailed description of it would require much time. To a butcher the brain is simple, for he has to distinguish it from only about thirty other "meats."" >From Dealing with Complexity, by Flood and Carson They also observe that "In general, we associate complexity with anything we find difficult to understand." That's why complexity can only be understood by considering both people _and_ things. There is no such thing as an "objective" measure of simplicity or complexity, because humans are involved, and every human has a different view of the system, depending on his interest. To the butcher, the brain isn't complex at all. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew Heaney Software Development Consultant (818) 985-1271