Feynman's Razor - Defender’s Corner
defenderofthebasic.substack.com · 827 words · saved by 1 readers
If an expert can't understand your explanation, you've dumbed it down too much!
“I can’t read the articles in the paper. I don’t know what they mean. I don’t know what kind of a machine it was just because it weighed seven tons. And there are now sixty two kinds of particles, and I would like to know what atomic bullet he is referring to” — Richard Feynman, The Meaning of it All, page 38 in PDF & 88 in the book I’ve been using this as my north star when explaining technical matters to laypeople. Basically, if someone who is capable of understanding the thing read my description, would they get it? If not, then it’s not a adequate explanation. I was thinking about…
related reading
- How To Understand Things - Nabeel S. Qureshinabeelqu.substack.com
- Long Distance Thinkingsimonsarris.substack.com
- How to Use the Feynman Technique to Learn Faster (With Examples)collegeinfogeek.com
- Guessing the Teacher's Password — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Gears in understanding — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Cocktail party ideasdanluu.com
- You can't tell people anythingweb.archive.org
- 5 Keys to Get the Most out of the Feynman Technique - Scott H Youngscotthyoung.com
- Feynman’s Rigor << the jsomers.net blogjsomers.net
- Double Illusion of Transparency — LessWronglesswrong.com
- Patterns in confusing explanationsjvns.ca
- The Feynman Learning Techniquefs.blog