Complexity, Tamed

A Substack about navigating the uncertainties and politics of technological change

“Alcohol,” observed esteemed social commentator Homer Simpson, “[is] the cause of, and the solution to, all of life’s problems.” Much the same could be said of technology. Every instance of awe-inspiring progress seems matched by the emergence of thorny new problems. ChatGPT accomplishes amazing feats of cleverness, but now we worry about job losses, economic disruption, and (potentially) human extinction. Plastics are convenient, and in the medical field life saving. But most of us end up with far more microplastic in our bodies than we would otherwise prefer.

At the same time, a great number of serious problems remain chronically unresolved. Many continue worry about the state of our climate and ecosystems in future decades. American cities demand ever longer commutes from us, and make it hard to see loved ones as much as we would like. Vaccine hesitancy is rising. Aging nuclear reactors are neither replaced nor decommissioned. And people in Western nations are every year heavier, lonelier, and more depressed.

Our contention is that most of us don’t think well enough about complexity, to the extent that it even enters our thinking. Impressive feats of science and technology lead us to believe that smart people, somewhere, will discover or invent something that will put an end to our problems. And hopefully, many of us seem to think, politicians will just stay out of the way.

But the long history of technological failure and success actually tells a different story, one where it is social organization, that is the way that groups of people put together and interact, rather than science or technology that makes complexity manageable. In particular, it is the proper organization of disagreement that enables our success as a species. The point of this Substack is to tell this alternative story of technological change and help readers deploy it in their own thinking, and perhaps even in their professional and personal lives.

Taming Complexity is an intellectual community open to everyone interested in better coping with the awesome intricacy of our world.

We are technology theorists. One of us started in media studies and now runs a Zen temple in Japan and the other two started off in mathematics and physics. But we all met during our PhD studies in Science and Technology Studies. Colin researched artificial intelligence. Michael focused on the privatization of space travel. Taylor examined the connections between technological change and community life.

The common thread between our research is complexity: how and why it raises its ugly head and how people can learn to be collectively intelligent enough to deal with it. We are the latest generation of thinkers working in the spirit of Karl Popper, Charles Lindblom, David Collingridge, and Edward Woodhouse. And we are inviting you to join us on our investigations into how humans could better rise to the challenge of complexity. Whether you are a practicing engineer, policy wonk, scientist, or someone concerned about whether people can learn to avert global catastrophe, this Substack is written for you.

We will aim to post every Monday and Thursday. Posts will vary from case studies, analyses of contemprary technological issues, responses to current events, multi-part series, and more! So some weeks we might opt for a single longer piece or post several smaller reflections.

Many of the shorter posts will remain free. Subscribers, however, will enjoy exclusive access to longer investigative pieces and complete article series. Podcasts are planned for the future as well, but only subscribers will be able to listen to them in their entirety. We will consider still other forms of content as our Substack evolves. But, in short, we’ll make it worth your while to fork over five of your hard earned dollars for a paid subscription.

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