Tainter Archives

Techno-utopia unravelling: Why complexity is no longer solving our problems

January 17, 2022January 17, 2022 by Kurt Cobb

Many in contemporary global society unconsciously act to create more complexity, thinking it will solve whatever problem presents itself. That very complexity is now giving us negative returns. More of it will almost certainly make matters worse.

Devolution everywhere: Spain, Italy, Britain and the problems of complexity

October 29, 2017 by Kurt Cobb

The devolution of political power is once again front and center in the news as the citizens of Catalonia vote for independence from Spain. This development is just the latest in a series of devolution tremors that point to the limits of complexity as a strategy for organizing our societies.