---
type: claim
id: personbyte-limit-constrains-product-complexity-to-network-size
title: "The personbyte limit means product complexity is constrained by the size and coordination quality of the knowledge network that produces it"
status: published
confidence: established
description: "Individual knowledge capacity is finite so product complexity tracks social coordination quality — the reason Taylor's scientific management was necessary"
domain: mechanisms
importance: null
source: "Hidalgo 2015 Why Information Grows"
created: 2026-04-21
related:
  - products-are-crystals-of-imagination-embodying-knowledge-beyond-creators
  - economic-path-dependence-early-technological-choices-compound
tags:
  - information-theory
  - knowledge
  - coordination
  - complexity
---

A personbyte is the theoretical maximum amount of knowledge and knowhow a single human can contain, limited by finite cognitive capacity and lifespan. Products below the personbyte threshold can be made by a single skilled individual — a blacksmith could make a complete horseshoe. Products above it require the knowledge to be "chunked" and distributed across a network of specialists with complementary expertise.

This creates a fundamental constraint: product complexity tracks social complexity. You cannot build what you cannot coordinate. A locomotive engine in 1880 exceeded the personbyte limit — no single worker understood the complete manufacturing process. This is precisely what created the need for Taylor's scientific management: the shift from craft production to industrial production was, at its core, a knowledge-coordination problem, not a technology problem.

The personbyte limit also explains why knowledge accumulation is geographically biased. Learning is experiential — a machinist learns by apprenticing in a machine shop, not by reading manuals. This means new knowledge tends to accumulate where related knowledge already exists, producing the "nestedness" Hidalgo observes in international trade: industries present in the least diversified economies are always also present in the most diversified ones, while the rarest industries appear only in the most knowledge-rich economies.

The product space — a network connecting products that require similar knowledge — shows that economies diversify toward related varieties (curtain producers move to tablecloths, not toaster ovens). This is not cultural preference but informational constraint: the jigsaw puzzle of required knowledge is easier to complete when you already have most of the pieces.

For collective intelligence systems, the personbyte limit is the fundamental reason coordination matters: the interesting problems all exceed individual capacity. The quality of the coordination mechanism directly determines the complexity of the products — and the claims, analyses, and strategies — the system can produce.
