How an 'annoying complexity bias' makes 'straightforward' problems harder to solve

A phrase that political analysts, from journalists to university professors, often use is "It's complicated." That phrase is used in discussions of everything from health care to taxes to foreign policy.

But in a think piece published by Rolling Stone on September 9, journalist David Sirota stresses that political discussions often become more complicated than they need to be. And Sirota takes it a step further, arguing that a "complexity bias" can get in the way of progress and problem-solving.

"Simple now means 'simpleton,' and the exegesis for everything is 'it's complicated,' even if it isn't," Sirota writes. "This complexity bias isn't just annoying. It's destructive. In our politics, it has become a form of misinformation, focusing our attention on noisy content rather than on simple explanations — and solutions."

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Sirota points to the United States' health insurance crisis as an example of the "complexity bias" making it harder to deal with the problem.

"More and more Americans cannot afford medical care as our life expectancies decline," Sirota explains. "This is happening to us in a world where other industrialized countries long ago built straightforward universal health care systems that have fostered longer lifespans. And yet, thanks to America's corporate-controlled discourse and its complexity bias, we remain trapped in interminable political conflict and commentary insisting that subsidies, tax credits, market reforms, and paperwork regimes are the solution — rather than just expanding existing public health care systems."

Sirota adds, "Today, something as straightforward as lowering the Medicare age is eyerolled by pundits droning on about Affordable Care Act marketplace tweaks — all to the applause of liberal news consumers, whose cherished media outlets have taught them that complexity rather than simplicity is the hallmark of intellect."

The "complexity bias," according to Sirota, also "obscures our thinking about the economy."

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"We're living in a new Gilded Age of crushing inequality blaring at us via social media's wealth porn," Sirota laments. "It is an era of real estate moguls price-gouging renters and monopolies using market power to jack up prices and inflate profits. It is an epoch when oligarchs exploit workers and use their winnings to build gigayachts that The New Yorker identifies as 'the most expensive objects that our species has ever figured out how to own.' The obvious and simple-to-understand problem is oligarchy and concentrated corporate power."

Sirota continues, "And yet, we're now drowning in 'abundance' agitprop insisting it's more complex than that. After $79 trillion was stolen from the bottom 90 percent of households, newfangled neoliberals are telling us that the problem is government, rather than their paymasters hoarding all the wealth. They tell us the fixes cannot be simple stuff like rent control, public housing investment, antitrust enforcement, higher taxes on the wealthy, anti-price-gouging initiatives, or making sure the indigent at least have a little bit of cash to survive…. So the next time you see politicians or influencers peddling some complex theory about what seems like a straightforward problem, pause and remember that the simplest explanation is often the right one."

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David Sirota's full Rolling Stone article is available at this link.