We often hear that the world has become increasingly complex as we explored new possibilities or navigate new networks. But most information has already had been present for ages. The information just wasn’t disclosed, it was seen as irrelevant, we called it mystical or wasn’t yet revealed due to the state of science or the direction of interest.

The world has not become more complex. I think it’s more of an unsettling feeling that people experience. I think we witness an unprecedented societal push toward increased mobility and flexibility, sometimes at the cost of feeling not so secure, attached or grounded. It is in this sense that today’s world is more unsettling and more unstable. But I wouldn’t call it more complex.

New ways of mapping and navigating information can actually simplify the world. I was triggered by this new car navigation system by Blaupunkt. The system blurs the boundaries between the physical world and the digital and it enables digital content and trafic related analysis to superimpose network of roads. To me, this is a good example of how an new digital layer can simplify the world, rather than make it more complex. Digital information is projected onto the real world, making it less abstract and easier to navigate.

However, the emergence of new networks or the shifts within networks, did enforce this unsetteling feeling. Globalization for example brings new players, power shifts and conflicting interests. Meaning that the existing networks are forced to changed, new ones emerge, resulting in an unsettling feeling. Not per definition more complex. However, what, I my opinion, did become more complex, are the interdependencies between various networks.

But I wonder if these various systems were mapped and new tools made it possible to navigate its structures, would we still perceive it as unsettling or complex for that matter; would the ability to visually navigate these structures decrease this unsettling feeling?

To some extend a traffic situation can be compared to other ‘complex’ systems. With millions of users on the roads, each with their own destination and driving style, a new navigational layer offers the possibilities of sorting all the stuff out that is relevant to ones personal situation and goals. Would a new layer of information, such as the the car naviagtion system mentioned above, be able to simplify that what we perceive as complex?