{"paper":{"title":"The Simplicity Paradox: Why Evolution Does Not Produce Universally Complex Agents","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["math.IT"],"primary_cat":"cs.IT","authors_text":"Teddy Lazebnik","submitted_at":"2026-06-17T14:45:40Z","abstract_excerpt":"It has been well established that information improves decisions, pushing the population forward as more information becomes available. Nevertheless, a wide range of empirical evidence shows that humans avoid complexity, delegate judgement, and prefer simplified social worlds. This tension raises an evolutionary puzzle: if knowledge is economically valuable and therefore evolutionarily beneficial, why do populations not converge towards universally informed and complex agents? In this study, we propose a theory of cognitive economy in which information has positive utility but costly acquisiti"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2606.19136","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2606.19136/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}