Complexity

Here's my view on the connection of minimalism is complexity.

What is complexity, anyway? A high learning curve? Something my grandmother couldn't comprehend? (In that case, everything - including the VCR - is complex) Or something that gets in your way?

As with much of the English language, we're forced into subjective interpretation based on the context.

"Debian is more complex than Ubuntu." "Ubuntu is more complex than Debian."

Both of these are true to some degree, and false to some degree. It depends on the user. For me, Ubuntu has become more complex than Debian because it gets in my way when I'm digging about in the internals of the OS. But for a friend who doesn't like to OS dig, then the opposite is true.

Just because Debian allows me more freedom and requires more knowledge out of me doesn't make it more complex, I would argue, at least on the basis of how my productivity is altered. This is because it makes me more effective at getting things done. Debian makes my life less complex than Ubuntu does by being more complex from a common user's standpoint.

Here's that saying I continue to repeat like a broken record: subtraction isn't minimalism unless it's done for the sake of focus!

Let's look at something different. Say, one of my favorite albums, Amon Tobin's Supermodified. Very complex, deep, layered music, filled with sounds and words and genres. The album wouldn't be the same simplified. I can't even begin to try and parse some of the songs and make them less complex than they already are, because their complexity is what makes them so great. (Example song - odd visuals in the video, but good music)

In different aspects of life we value certain concepts differently, and in music or on, say, a book's plot, complexity can often be a good thing. This shows just how subjective and ever-changing these ideas become.