Most uses of the word "composite" that I have seen refer to manufactured materials made from combining other materials. Still, it seems to be a good word for much that humans do, in manufacturing and in general. I have the impression that it is difficult to predict a decision made by a group of people. I think the difficulty may be greater when the decision is made between more than just two choices.
I have read that many human brain operations involve association and that who associates what with what else is very complex. When I say "Florence", you may think of an Italian city while I think of my mother's only sibling. It may be that sometime in the future, we can quickly comb through my associations and yours and estimate accurately what may come to mind with a given stimulus. I am not at all sure that accurate prediction is very valuable or important but I suppose that greater self-knowledge or knowledge of someone important to another might be achieved with fuller understanding of each other's propensities.
The idea of sub-sets brings to mind the powers of 2: 2,4,8,16, 32, 64,...
2 to the Nth power, where N is the number of elements in a set gives the number of unique subsets that can be chosen. "30" can be an important number in education since many classes of students may number about 30. In a class of 30 students, a teacher has 1,073,741,824 possible subsets or well more than a billion, for choosing committees, finding friendships or animosities, noting the best athletes or some other selection. And that is for just one choice. The number of different choice possibilities rises if two sub-sets are going to be chosen.
The subject of "composites" (combinations, multiple ingredients, steps in a process and their order of application) came up today with discussions of John Hartman's Light Painting and of virtual choir performances. You may have seen pandemic-inspired choral performances where singers are scattered physically but photographically and technologically combined in what looks and sounds like a single, traditional choir standing and singing together.
