A tip above, a world beneath _
Making things simple is complicated! It needs both knowing the subject and knowing how the human mind works. To show and speak plain and clear you need time and depth; like an iceberg - a quiet crystal peak above the waters, holds centuries of frozen storms underneath.
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You make things simple when you bring people to understand them*.
The skill to trigger understanding gives power by satisfying a deep human need; there is value in making things simple because complexity, like most things we do not understand, appears alien and threatening; we need instead simplicity which feels familiar and practical.
The one able to translate the confusing into something familiar has power among people.
*
Why do I claim that complexity is threatening?
Much detail is foreseeable confusion. Too much analysis is paralysis. Accurate academic abstraction is an alien planet. Plenty of choice is perplexity. Multiple opinions spell conflict. Profuse words are suspect of ignorance and a will to mystify. Precise expert talk is unnatural jargon made to keep us dependent. Too many probabilities beat the mind. Erudite abundance and subtlety feel like insult to those who do not grasp them. This is the humble psychology of complexity brought to people.
Complication, like most things we do not understand, cause uncertainty, insecurity and a sense of incompetence: People, as I found, are lost in complication, hate to decide among many choices and wary to be exposed when they do not understand.
Simplicity makes one feel in control; "plain" things are seen as elegant, obvious, reality itself; plainness gives a sense of understanding and ability to act.
When you represent things in understandable form you diminish uncertainty; this grounds the power to make things simple, the magic wand of the wise; provided it is not left to populists, false prophets, salespeople and other liars gifted to use it in unscrupulous ways.
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In exchange of clarity, familiarity and simpler choices to feel secure, people are willing to delegate part of their judgement and freedom by making theirs your interpretation.
We trust those who make us understand. We seek those who reduce our doubts. We entrust them to think for us and to explain how things are, what choices we have and what we should do. There is no stronger persuasion than making one understand: the map in our mind directs what we think and what we do.
This is power indeed! And danger! When you make things simple you are responsible personally of what you do.
READ THE WHOLE ESSAY IT IS AMONG THE ARTICLES
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* There is no such thing as "making things simple in general" or "objectively". Simplicity is felt, lived, not measured or calculated; "simple" means that it makes sense here and now, commonsense for these people, for this person, from their point of view, in this context, with this purpose. Simplicity is relative to the living human mind. Universal simplicity is a machine-dream.
Making things simple is complicated! It needs both knowing the subject and knowing how the human mind works. To show and speak plain and clear you need time and depth; like an iceberg - a quiet crystal peak above the waters, holds centuries of frozen storms underneath.
*
You make things simple when you bring people to understand them*.
The skill to trigger understanding gives power by satisfying a deep human need; there is value in making things simple because complexity, like most things we do not understand, appears alien and threatening; we need instead simplicity which feels familiar and practical.
The one able to translate the confusing into something familiar has power among people.
*
Why do I claim that complexity is threatening?
Much detail is foreseeable confusion. Too much analysis is paralysis. Accurate academic abstraction is an alien planet. Plenty of choice is perplexity. Multiple opinions spell conflict. Profuse words are suspect of ignorance and a will to mystify. Precise expert talk is unnatural jargon made to keep us dependent. Too many probabilities beat the mind. Erudite abundance and subtlety feel like insult to those who do not grasp them. This is the humble psychology of complexity brought to people.
Complication, like most things we do not understand, cause uncertainty, insecurity and a sense of incompetence: People, as I found, are lost in complication, hate to decide among many choices and wary to be exposed when they do not understand.
Simplicity makes one feel in control; "plain" things are seen as elegant, obvious, reality itself; plainness gives a sense of understanding and ability to act.
When you represent things in understandable form you diminish uncertainty; this grounds the power to make things simple, the magic wand of the wise; provided it is not left to populists, false prophets, salespeople and other liars gifted to use it in unscrupulous ways.
*
In exchange of clarity, familiarity and simpler choices to feel secure, people are willing to delegate part of their judgement and freedom by making theirs your interpretation.
We trust those who make us understand. We seek those who reduce our doubts. We entrust them to think for us and to explain how things are, what choices we have and what we should do. There is no stronger persuasion than making one understand: the map in our mind directs what we think and what we do.
This is power indeed! And danger! When you make things simple you are responsible personally of what you do.
READ THE WHOLE ESSAY IT IS AMONG THE ARTICLES
------------------------------------
* There is no such thing as "making things simple in general" or "objectively". Simplicity is felt, lived, not measured or calculated; "simple" means that it makes sense here and now, commonsense for these people, for this person, from their point of view, in this context, with this purpose. Simplicity is relative to the living human mind. Universal simplicity is a machine-dream.
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