Malevich Proves My Point

Recently I was moaning about the fact that the word “binary” has largely ousted the words “simple” and “straightforward”. This evening I came across a remark from the abstract artist Kasimir Malevich that I think proves my suspicion that “binary” is not generally a word  chosen to increase clarity:

“The square is an expression of binary thought that distinguishes between impulse and no impulse, between one and nothing.”

Absolutely meaningless. Nothing binary about that.