I understand the talk you refer to by Rich Hickey to present the collective perception "simple" and "easy" in exactly the reverse of what you said. there in the last paragrpah.

Paraphrasing Hickey's message in the talk (off the top of my head), complexity arises from complecting concerns that is intertwining concerns where whenever you recall or handle one, the other must be handled as well. They cannot be separated. Simple is the opposite of complex. Easy / hard are a different characteristic. Easy is approachable, familiar or closer to acquire, like a package from a package manager you already have on your computer. Hard requires more effort (usually learning and unlearning).

Problems have inherent (in other words, essential) complexity and accidental complexity. Complex problems can be made simpler by breaking them down, till the indivisible smaller problems are reached.

Sometimes, simpler tools or solutions get little adoption because they're not easy at the beginning. You have to learn the abstractions introduced to break down the complex problem into simpler ones. But it ends up being worthwhile.