take the tax code, for instance ....... or leave it! -- j

and, yes, Mike, sometimes a three-digit IQ
is just a three-digit IQ. complex does not
equal valuable. but the EEs need hyperbolics
to do their work, so there you are! -- j

As has been said, "If you can't express what you think, you don't know what you think."

To pride oneself on "complexity" is rather like embracing a scapegoat for being unable to articulate ideas to others. One can always fall back on the vanity of, "I`m just misunderstood because these simpletons cannot grasp my ideas." It would actually be more effective, for the sake of succeeding in future communication, to acknowledge that a more competent means of articulation is required.

I find it ironic that those who have the greatest pride in their own integrity, often come across as the most humble people--because their egos are not hinged on trivialities or substanceless ideals. They are devoted to truth and greatness and the need to countenance these virtues completely negates any "need to be right" for the express purpose of maintaining a self-image reflected in the regard of others. Such a person will never be ashamed to admit he/she is mistaken. Such a person would be more interested in progressing with newly acquired facts than dwelling on past mistakes.

I think Sowell is referring to the pseudo-intellectuals on the left. They use obfuscation to try to make others think they could not possibly understand the issues at hand. The simple answer is the facts. They want to obscure the facts to cover for their only knowing talking points, with no real knowledge of what they are pushing. If they can try to complicate the discussion, and others assume their knowledge, they win.

Cheese.

foundations need not be complex and definitely not obfuscating. Most issues derive from simplistic but powerful concepts. Like the concept "selfishness." go ahead, make it complicated...it need not be. why would you say you stand alone? that is so absurd. and your prejudice against the conservative bumpkin.? I raise you five prog complicators...with no firm foundations

khalling asserted, "...foundations are relatively simple ..." Therefore, I must ask, relative to what?

face palm. this is about lacking in consistent foundations. foundations are relatively simple, mr. stand alone

I stand alone. I have the mental capacity to understand complex statements. I have the ability to solve complex problems. In this snippet, I see the anti-intellectual tradition of the American Right, the conservatives who insist that high-falutin' college professors know less than a farm boy. This statement from Thomas Sowell is one reason among many why Ayn Rand distanced herself from the political conservatives of her time. She excoriated the "crackerbarrel conservatives" of the country store, the yokels of the styx, who were hostile to city people and their smart-aleck ways.

Once, double-entry bookkeeping was new.
Once, negative numbers were denied.
Later, "imaginary numbers" were unreal ... and then alternating current electricity was invented. But Thomas Edison could not work with it. He lacked the mathematics of calculus, so he kept to DC, and propagandized against George Westinghouse.

"Complex numbers? Who needs those? God gave us ten fingers. Have you ever see the square root of minus one? No, it is just a high-falutin' East Coast liberal college professor's complication of something that ain't even real -- which they admit: real numbers and imaginary numbers. You mean imaginary like umpteen or eleventy-nine? Shucks, there ain't no such animule!"

I assure, you my conservative comrades, complicated does not mean "unknowable" ... unless you have a two-digit IQ.

Well that's gotta be a lost leader!

I accept your succinct summation. It is better than my description.

Jan

No good reason to complicate anything that is already simple to understand, use, perform, etc.
Only reason to complicate the simple is to confuse, control, and corrupt in order to gain power, control, money. Income Tax Law is prime example of simple made complicated by design.
I'm also OK with rolling down my truck windows and locking the doors without a button, motors, and computer doing it for me. Bell and whistle automation like this just costs more money and then even more money when it breaks.

Some situations are genuinely complex. When you try modeling medical care and the interactions between a genetic endowment, an environmental trigger and a lifestyle choice - and weigh those factors with respect to a test outcome such as 'my Uric Acid is high' you have a genuinely complex system.

When you observe that 'if you spend more than you make you run out of money'...well, not so complex.

This is a matter for accurate triage, not for derision. Complex matters should be treated with regard for their complexity; simple matters should not be BS'd.

Jan

K.I.S.S. "Keep it simple, stupid". Always makes things easier to understand, for everyone.

I have noticed that middle management loves corporate-babble. When the actual owners of the companies get together, there is often straight talk.

Jan

Complication is often an excuse for obfuscation.

Now fully retired from the Alabama Department of Corrections, I was just a couple of years into that career when I picked up on the three favorite words of an administrative level memo writer
They are in basic form (no "ed" or "ing") ----
1. utilize
2. implement
3. facilitate
A simple word like "do" was anathema. Oops, strike that last word. It was a big no-no.

Why do those who wish to control people love complications? Because then they have an excuse for control and a bewildering array of legal rules to hide what they are actually doing.

That's why big government is a danger to freedom: it is always harder to hide when the walls are smaller and fewer.

I've always felt that way. "Simplism": is a slam against the truth. "Complicate me no complexity, and nuance me no nuance," I always say.

Unfortunately getting some to see the simple truth becomes really complicated.

Sowell is always on point.
Sometimes a rubber chicken is just a rubber chicken.