I’m really curious about the definitions of ‘complex’ and ‘complicated’ in this article. Is this standard usage in some field or is it just this author? The definitions make a lot of sense, and they match up with a concept that has been percolating in the back of my mind for a while.

It seems that the key to society, for lack of a better term, is agency. Just like the author says the key to success in a complex system is to maximize agentic potential, the key to any regulation of technology is to maximize a user's agency. In practice, this means giving them lifelines to escape the algorithmically defined echo chamber (made possible by the limited interaction options in point 3 and the asymmetry in point 4).

But isn't that also a parallel to much of the current discussion of systemic racism? There's an illusion of choice, and the ability for an individual to pursue the best choice for themselves is limited by a heavy dose of power asymmetry.

It just seems like a lot of things happening right now boil down to a single key word.