This is a principle, not a paradox. The principle is simply that there is an inherent complexity to any construct, and, that the burden of complexity can be shifted to optimal domains.
As an analog, consider analysis of harmonic systems. A complex wave form in time-domain, vs the same signal considered in frequency-domain, via Fourier Transforms.
(So, here, quite a lot of the time-domain complexity is handled by very complex mathematical machinery that supports FT. The new picture in frequency domain is “simple”, but the FT machinery is hardly that. The total system complexity is asserted to be equivalent.)
The name of the game with complexity is to shift the burden of complexity to a capability domain that is within one’s reach.
I don't think this is a good analogy. FT is like changing the reference frame. Similarly, the movement of planets are more easily described in an heliocentric model than in an Earth-centric model. You can write the transform between those two models, but this does not increase the complexity of the solar system itself: you don't add features, which is exactly the issue with software.
A slightly better analogy would be the shift from Newtonian physics to relativist physics, that describes more accurately how things move. However, you still don't add complexity to the described thing, you just discover more of its complexity and get a more complex description as a result.
What we have here is simply the effect of something we know one expect of as Parkinson's law [1], which is a specific case of the Induced demand phenomenon [2].
As an analog, consider analysis of harmonic systems. A complex wave form in time-domain, vs the same signal considered in frequency-domain, via Fourier Transforms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourier_transform
(So, here, quite a lot of the time-domain complexity is handled by very complex mathematical machinery that supports FT. The new picture in frequency domain is “simple”, but the FT machinery is hardly that. The total system complexity is asserted to be equivalent.)
The name of the game with complexity is to shift the burden of complexity to a capability domain that is within one’s reach.