Simple, Complex, Easy, Hard
Words Matter
This post kicks off a series of posts that build up to how I think about Cybersecurity Operations and Network Defense.
The words in the title of this post will frequently appear in other posts that I have planned, and so I’d like to give them a little definition here.
Simple Made Easy
In 2011, Rich Hickey gave a talk called “Simple Made Easy”, where he offered excellent critical insights into what simplicity is.
Programmers were Hickey’s target audience, but I think his insights extend to endeavors beyond software development.
Hickey’s remarks are central to this post and many of the rest of the posts in this series. Rather than tell you about what he said, I will show you by using direct quotes.
Note that I adapt some of Hickey’s comments to fit with Cybersecurity, by using square brackets (i.e. []).
All unattributed block quotes belong to Rich Hickey, and are from his talk.
Simple
So the first word is simple. And the roots of this word are sim and plex, and that means one fold or one braid or twist. And that characteristic about being [literally one] fold or twist? What’s one twist look like? No twists […], actually.
Complex
And the opposite of this word is complex, which means braided together or folded together. Being able to think about our [Cybersecurity Operations] in terms of whether or not it’s folded together is sort of the central point of this [series of posts].
Easy
The other word we frequently use interchangeably with simple is the word easy. And the derivation there is to a French word[. … The] last step of this derivation is actually speculative. [… It] is from the Latin word that is the root of adjacent, which means to lie near and to be nearby.
Hard
And the opposite [of easy] is hard. Of course, the root of hard has nothing to do with lying near. It doesn’t mean lie far away. It actually means like strong or tortuously so.
What does any of this have to do with Cybersecurity Operations and Network Defense?
Check out the next post in this series, where we dive into what simple means in more detail, which will help us have a more precise discussions about Cybersecurity Operations and Network Defense later on.
