The complexity of the world...

Nietzsche defined a thinker as someone who makes things simpler than they are. I often think about this quote. Our lives, our world, have gotten so complex—and this has gone along perfectly with the decline, even death, of thought. Complexity increases precisely as thought decreases. We often think this is the opposite—that complexity signifies a kind of increased thoughtfulness. But it’s actually the opposite—complexity takes the place of thought, fills up the empty space where thinking should be. Anywhere that thinking goes, complexity is driven away, as things are made to submit to first principles, where their basic essence can be understood—and so, by contrast, a world ruled by complexity is a world ruled by thoughtlessness.