Excerpt

This paper, when read against the current rigor of complexity science, is disarmingly simple—so broad, in fact, that it is difficult to know where to begin in describing its impact on the current state of research. It is much like trying to describe a very simple event that has complex and cascading consequences. It is best to try to imagine what the state of research looked like before Herbert A. Simon’s entrance into the scene.

Notable in its scope and interdisciplinary in its approach, Simon’s “The Organization of Complex Systems” synthesizes ideas from his varied earlier works into a comprehensive perspective on complexity science. Simon’s prior contributions, particularly in the areas of human cognition and economic rationality, had set the stage for his unique stance on complexity. His 1955 conceptualization of bounded rationality, expressed in detail in his paper “A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice,” fundamentally challenged the assumption of humans as purely rational, utility-maximizing entities. Instead, Simon proposed that humans, faced with immense complexity and limited cognitive capacities, are satisficers, who seek good-enough solutions. Simon’s 1962 paper, “The Architecture of Complexity,” laid the initial groundwork for the ideas he expanded in “The Organization of Complex Systems.” Simon had posed hierarchical structures as a common phenomenon seen across numerous complex systems, from biology to human social organization.

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