Open question
Chapter 5 defines complexity as ‘preconditions a receiver needs’ then slides into nuance, depth, informational entropy. The real gating variable might be handle-ability (emotional/identity/action fit) rather than precondition count.
Status. provisionally resolved
Where the book lands. Yes — and the resolution is to split the term along the transport/selection seam. Transport-complexity is precondition count: how much outer message (decoding key) must survive a hop for the idea to land intact. A property of the idea-in-transit; this is what Chapter 5 is about. Selection-complexity is handle-ability: how the idea scores at a gate — emotional load, identity fit, action affordance. A property of the idea-at-a-gate; this is what Chapter 5b is about. The two come apart in the wild — an idea can be low transport-complexity (cheap to carry) and still die if it scores at no gate, or high transport-complexity but spread anyway if its compressed form is high handle-ability. Splitting the term along the transport/selection seam fixed the slide. Chapter 5 uses complexity to mean transport-complexity throughout; Chapter 5b uses handle-ability for the selection-side axis. Pressure-tests still open: whether the two axes really come apart cleanly in cases where both are doing real work (entertainment with rich worldbuilding; ritual with elaborated symbol systems).
Connections
- Raised in: Virality Trade-off, Virality Trade-off, Lossy — Outline, Ch 5b — Selection As The Other Engine
- Built on by: Spread is inverse to complexity
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