I think, the shift in programmer's perspective on where complexity should live is very much related to the idea of "the two styles in mathematics" described in

I think, the shift in programmer's perspective on where complexity should live is very much related to the idea of "the two styles in mathematics" described in this essay on the way Grothendieck preferred to deal with complexity in his work: http://www.landsburg.com/grothendieck/mclarty1.pdf http://www.landsburg.com/grothendieck/mclarty1.pdf.