Why it's so hard to "just say the thing"
On the difficulty of clear communication and what it takes to explain ideas simply.
"Just saying the thing" is surprisingly hard - it requires:
- Clarity - what am I actually trying to say that's worthwhile saying?
- Vulnerability - Am I willing to state what I actually think and believe without hiding behind complexity?
- Humility - Am I okay admitting what I know and what I don't?
Simplicity forces ideas out into the open, and this is uncomfortable. It's much easier to hide behind unnecessary context, jargon and complex abstractions.
Right at the end of the recent Dwarkesh podcast with Andrej Karpathy:
Dwarkesh:
"It is in 100% of cases that just the narration or the transcription of how they would explain it to you over lunch is way more, not only understandable, but actually also more accurate and scientific, in the sense that people have a bias to explain things in the most abstract, jargon-filled way possible and to clear their throat for four paragraphs before they explain the central idea. But there's something about communicating one-on-one with a person which compels you to just say the thing. Just say the thing."
Karpathy:
"Explaining things to people is a beautiful way to learn something more deeply. This happens to me all the time. It probably happens to other people too because I realize if I don't really understand something, I can't explain it. I'm trying and I'm like, 'Oh, I don't understand this.' It's so annoying to come to terms with that. You can go back and make sure you understood it. It fills these gaps of your understanding. It forces you to come to terms with them and to reconcile them. I love to re-explain things and people should be doing that more as well."
An idea well explained appears simple and to the point, but often required a lot of groundwork.
For me at least, clear and concise ideas only emerge after:
1. Grappling
Understanding from different angles, connecting to what I already know, acknowledging gaps, exploring surrounding ideas (and taking wrong paths).
2. Repeated externalisation
Explaining the thing many times over to anyone who will listen. Having views and explanations challenged, changed and reinforced.
Related: Beren's take on encoding, decoding, continual learning
3. Ruthless de-fluffing
Cutting the fluff until what remains is the most refined and concise version that lands with most people.
Only after I've been through this process do I know what is and isn't important to bridge someone else's learning gap - because I've been through the struggle myself.