@autodidaddict I have been reading a number of your blog posts and enjoying them so far. The article you have on complexity--made me think of a lecture by Rich Hickey: Simple Made Easy. And I think that there's a very similar way of thinking occurring.
In your terms the best representation of complicated but not complex might be assembly. Many find assembly difficult but each command is simple. The issue is that know one command in assembly does not help you understand the rest very much.