The Emperor’s New Clothes: Unveiling the illusions of complexity

Lessons on simplicity,transparency and driving absolute sustainability from Hans Christian Andersen & Niccolò Machiavelli

“But he has nothing on at all,” said a little child at last. “Good heavens! listen to the voice of an innocent child,” said the father, and one whispered to the other what the child had said. “But he has nothing on at all,” cried, at last, the whole people. That made a deep impression upon the emperor, for it seemed to him that they were right; but he thought to himself, “Now I must bear up to the end.” And the chamberlains walked with still greater dignity, as if they carried the train which did not exist. Andersen (1835)

Taken from the short tale The Emperor’s New Clothes written by Hans Christian Andersen, about two frauds who pretend to be weavers that can create the most beautiful clothes for the emperor, but what is even better is that the clothes serve as a test of intelligence and worthiness because as they convincingly claim only those who are genuinely first-rate intelligent can see the clothes. Therefore, if one cannot, it means they are incompetent and not worthy of their position in society – while in reality, they make no clothes at all. Nonetheless, neither first the noblemen working with the emperor nor later the society at large dared to speak up out of fear of exposing their incompetence. Instead, the weavers successfully deceived everyone by creating unnecessary layers of complexity as a cover-up. That is until a child finally says it as he sees it: The emperor is wearing nothing at all.

Surely, we are smarter than that today, right? Willing and able to speak up against wrongdoings and incorrectness? Unfortunately, the dire state of the world today tells a different story. For a long time, our global scientific community led by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been trying to draw attention to the increasing problems. In contrast, the response from policy and business has been incredulity or, as of later, green- washing. So much like they believed the weavers in the fairytale, so too have we, to a very large extent, chosen to believe it when politicians and traditional industry tell us everything will be okay. We just need to make sure we put our trash in the right bin and buy “sustainable” products. A few adjustments here and there will do the trick; therefore, don’t worry; nothing will really have to change. Complex future technology with great intangible potential will fix it for us. 

Suppose we don’t understand their expensive consultancy-developed de- carbonisation roadmaps and plans to innovate groundbreaking technology of power-to-x and carbon capture storage, etc. In that case, we are just not intelligent enough. Because if that many people, magazines, ESG rating agencies and even NGOs applaud these plans, I must be at fault for not understanding it, right? All the while, the fact is that we have caused more harm knowingly than we ever did unknowingly. Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, we have burned more fossil fuels than we ever did before. The conference is popularly known as The Earth Summit because it was the first time global nations came together and turned our attention to the troubles of climate change caused by burning fossil fuels. That is, we have burned more fossil fuels since 1992 than we did between 1992 and their first use in 1880. Therefore, you are not at fault for not understanding their overly complex net-zero roadmaps. Instead, we should never be afraid to ask questions and demand transparency. Because now more than ever, we need to call out the fraud weavers using pretend complexity to greenwash their solutions and cover up the great damage it does to our climate and biodiversity and face up to the need for systemic change because right now, the fraud weavers of our time have it much too easy.

Instead, we need a system that benefits the doers and creates solutions that solve actual problems that benefit both people and the planet. And lastly, like in the fairytale, we need to start listening to the young boy or girl (hallo Greta Thunberg) who tells it like he or she sees it and dares to go against the norm and speak truth to power: We need to ACT today. That it will require change and that technology cannot fix everything. It makes no sense that we push a tremendous amount of money into developing technology to capture carbon artificially whilst globally, we are cutting down forests and ruining our marine ecosystems, both of which have a remarkable ability to do the same. That is to capture carbon, but unlike the technological fixes, it is not in the future, and it does not take extreme amounts of embedded energy; instead, it can be done today and with no risk. Quite frankly, it is that simple. 

If we look at mobility, the picture is the same. We have become so fixated on cars that the land area used for parking lots in Los Angeles could fit San Francisco six times. That is prime real estate that we use for storing vehicles that more than 50% of the time are not used. Surely we can quite simply do that smarter? Yet the solution seems to be vast amounts of money and embedded energy going into creating the future of mobility through self-driving cars, etc. Rather than asking what we actually need? And solve the problem by improving our infrastructure and design for bikes, pedestrians and collective transportation in our urban landscape. A straightforward solution that improves our environment and human health at little to no cost or risk. So why don’t we? Because while it might not require complex technology, it does require a change in mindset and a new way of doing. As we will learn from the emperor later in this essay, such an endeavour to change one’s mind can seem daunting and uncomfortable. Right now, the idea that we can fix the problem through technology without changing our behaviour at all is simply too convenient.

A few adjustments here and there will do the trick, so don’t worry; nothing will really have to change. Complex future technology with great intangible potential will fix it for us.

Another example is the many advertisements from traditional industry pro- moting “sustainable consumption” when in fact, it is, at best, a slight decrease in a still much too large environmental footprint and most likely a claim made due to a purchase of carbon offsets at a much too low price, thus still economically incentivising the destruction of our planet. While simultaneously paralys- ing the individual buying the “sustainable” product by making them believe they are acting to safeguard the Earth. Much like the weavers did, deceiving them into believing and buying that recycled swimsuit made of rPET (recycled plastic bottles) is a positive contribution to solving our dire problems – a solution they desperately want to be a part of. When in fact, it is primarily a marketing effort created to drive sales, while we most likely could have done without that extra bathing suit, and the plastic should have been recycled back into plastic bottles or other food-grade material.

Going back to the methodology of the 4Rs in Chapter 9, Reduce as a tool is the most effective way to stay within our planetary boundaries. While all four are important, a reduction is the best way to improve your individual environmental footprint. Again, the solution is that simple.

But more than anything, we need to stop believing that we can safeguard our planet and thus our ability to thrive without a fundamental systems change, putting the cart back before the horse and focusing on the problem-solving necessary to ensure global prosperity for society at large is placed before the interests of the financial system and fossil fuel-based industries.

What you see is what you get

How does it relate to Danish Design Heritage and Global Sustainability? First, because one of the wonderful traits of the Danish Design Heritage is that it is the exact opposite of the weavers’ strategy of deceit through layers of pretend complexity. Instead, a key trait is simplicity, and at its best, Danish Design is intuitive, easy to understand and appreciated not just by the special few but by the general public. You do not need a trained eye or years of practice to recognise whether it is good design or not. Instead, due to its notion of form follows function, minimalism and, perhaps most importantly, care for materials, craft and the user, what you see is what you get. Transparency and simplicity are valued rather than considered lesser worth than more complex solutions, such as what the two fraud weavers are trying to mimic in the tale of The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Of course, some are complex, and we do need deep tech solutions too, especially due to the dire situation we are in and how long we have let the problem go on without calling out the frauds and start working to fix it, but it is the exception rather than the rule. Too many things are covered in layers of unnecessary complexity without creating value and instead decreasing transparency and connectedness while increasing material usage and CO2 equivalents. In that sense, less is truly more, and there is talent and craft in keeping things simple. 

Alas, simplicity does not mean lesser ambition. On the contrary, most likely, the more complex the problem, the more simple a solution it requires. The fairytale is still important in our present time, as the title of this essay suggests, that we have been caught up in a fairytale of complexity. We need to relearn the trait of valuing simplicity as something to strive for and see the ability to create simple solutions that matter as smart if we are to reach global sustainability and improvement towards regeneration. And it is not just about the Danish Design Heritage; we can look to nature and biomimicry as well: Nature does nothing in vain, and more is in vain, when less will serve; for “Nature is pleased with simplicity, and affects not the pomp of superfluous causes” as Isaac Newton (1687) wrote in The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. 

Just think of how simple yet impactful growing a tree or eelgrass in our oceans is – and the immense impact it has as a solution to our climate crisis due to its ability to capture carbon without the necessity of people spending vast amounts of resources and embedded energy on building factories made of concrete and precious metals. It exemplifies the concept of innovation by remembrance, where we learn from our past natural systems and combine them with the opportunities and needs of our current. Because the more wicked the problem, the more simplicity in the solution is required, and the true champions are those that can create solutions so innovative that they don’t need to be wrapped in unnecessary layers of complexity and are instead inspired by the craftsmanship of Danish design we need to take our time to care. This sounds simple, yet it seems to have become something we as a society find challenging to do: That is taking the time to care about the quality of the solution, the materials, the craft, and aesthetics, as well as care for each other and our planet as a collective. Caring about the process, the product, as well as the behaviour and usage it promotes and the importance of designing for thoughtfulness rather than thoughtlessness to ensure solutions that stand the test of time and solve our problems at the root cause, not just cover the issues visible from the surface with layers of complexity.

Let’s take the built environment as an example: Buildings and materials have become more complex, meaning that mono materials have been replaced with composite materials. Most things are now glued rather than screwed together, making it impossible to see what the materials consist of and, just as importantly, impossible to repair or recycle – the increase in complexity has been at the cost of the quality of the solution.

A change of heart

But that is not the only thing we can learn from the fairytale; another critical lesson from Hans Christian Andersen’s story is the emperor’s reluctance to change course even though he realised that he had been fooled by the pretend weavers and their layers of unnecessary complexity. It goes back to Machiavelli’s The Prince on our power structures and how they favour the existing:

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of the new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who might do well under the new’.

Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, 1513

Breaking down existing structures is difficult because it requires people to have a change of heart and question already made decisions and current beliefs – and not least investments. Just like the emperor had invested a great deal of capital in having the fraud weavers create his clothes, have we as a society spent an enormous amount of money investing in the wrong solutions. The reluctance to realise that and depreciate the investment is a great barrier for progress, perhaps the biggest of them all – far more significant than technology or the economy in itself. Hence quite simply, another reason why we need honest and straightforward solutions is that they are intuitive to understand, and we cannot rely on the existing system alone to ensure that the best possible solutions are chosen; instead, we need to empower each other to make the right choices and like the young boy in the fairytale dare to speak up when things stop making sense even if it means we have to acknowledge past failures. It is part of the journey towards improvement.

We need to move away from our desire to add complexity as frosting to just about every solution and instead remember our past greatness and that of nature and combine it with our current opportunities and future needs to create transparent solutions for longevity. We must move away from the fairytale of complexity to the value and opportunity of simplicity. I hope this thought-provoking essay will help improve the balance and shift from a world that has become complex and theoretical that we forget the value of tangible action and the importance of transparency if we are to rethink and truly deliver improvement.

Originally written for my book Danish Design Heritage & Global Sustainabiliy, Routledge 2024