Feynman's Razor - by Defender of the Basic
“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 not sixty two kinds of particles, and I would like to know what atomic bullet he is referring to”
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 this recently because of a HN discussion (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40535868) where people were making fun of this nonsensical error message:
This message can't be saved because it no longer exists. It can only be discarded. Make sure you copy the contents of the message before you discard if you want to use them later.
what the hell does this mean? The message doesn’t exist, but I can copy its contents? If I can copy its contents…why can’t I save it?? If it doesn’t exist why do I have to discard it??
