Hurst's Law

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Hurst's Law states,

“

Complexity can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be displaced.

”

One might also call Hurst's Law the Law of Conservation of Complexity.

A corollary to Hurst’s Law would be, "Pay attention to where you are displacing the complexity."

Hurst's Law is very important in information technology where new technologies claim to "greatly simplify" a complex business problem. These technologies are not making the problem simpler; they are instead displacing the problem from one place to another. The new technology is beneficial if it displaces complexity to a point where it is more manageable than it was before.

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