When we say that certain phenomena in nature are complex, we point at the difficulty in understanding the underlying drivers of the phenomena. Curiosity, research and perseverant efforts have led the human race to explore the unexplored and come up with extremely simple causes leading to enormous effects. The most popular of course is the butterfly effect, which says that a fluttering of the butterfly wings in one corner of the world could amplify into a devastating hurricane somewhere else. Though the hurricane seems a complex phenomenon to fathom, deep thinking, experiments and research do lead to one concluding that the butterfly effect could indeed be a reality. In this whole game of complexity the striking feeling is the basic simplicity that builds up into a complex exterior. Researchers have said that most of the systems in the world are complex systems implying that they are by the very definition, implicitly simple.
This makes me ask a question - are there phenomena that are apparently simple? Well, there seem to be simple systems too. An example that occurs to me is the concept of job rotation at work. When in school, I was taught in the course of management that too much work in a single role makes one bored and job rotation facilitates dealing with the problem of boredom due to monotony. I thought of this one as a fairly simple comcept. It is definitely not rocket science and it certainly doesn't require a behavior scientist to tell us this. But behind this simple term of job rotation lies an entire gamut of problems. An employee might like the job and might not want to take up some other job. Another employee might want to leave the organisation. There might be a newcomer who would want to learn his first job before moving on. All might not want to change jobs and above all, business continuity could be adversely affected. Job rotation therefore is a concept with a great deal of complexity involved.
We thus see that complexity brings with it underlying simplicity and so does simplicity bring complexity with it. The feeling of complexity or simplicity is therefore a result of our knowledge of the system. The limits of our knowledge about certain phenomena make certain aspects of systems apparent and certain aspects hidden. Just like the simple fluttering of the butterfly wings can cause a hurricane, it might also be possible that a hurricane somewhere might lead to a simple cool breeze elsewhere. It's difficult to say what is the cause and what is the effect. Systems therefore are not simple or complex. They are a fraught with both simplicity and complexity. It all depends on our perception and the limits of our understanding.
