Joseph A. Tainter

force change cause effect

"Herbert Spencer observed that, 'Every active force produces more than one change—every cause produces more than one effect'. "

—Joseph A. Tainter

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"As Renfrew noted in regard to early states, 'The specific state is legitimised in the eyes of its citizens by the existence of other states which patently do function along similar lines' "

—Joseph A. Tainter

complexity cost increase

"Every increase of complexity has a cost."

—Joseph A. Tainter

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"The cost of supporting complexity is the energy, labor, time, or money needed to create, maintain, and replace a system that grows to have more and more parts and transactions, to support specialists, to regulate behavior so that the parts of a system all work harmoniously, and to produce and control information."

—Joseph A. Tainter

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"No society can become more complex without increasing its consumption of high-quality energy, human labor, time, or money."

—Joseph A. Tainter

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"Complexity is a long-term paradox of problem solving. It facilitates the resolution of problems in the short run while undermining the ability to solve them in the long term."

—Joseph A. Tainter

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“in the evolution of a society, continued investment in complexity as a problem-solving strategy yields a declining marginal return.”

—Joseph A. Tainter

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“Happily, solving problems by intensifying production and increasing complexity does not always yield catastrophic results.”

—Joseph A. Tainter