unexplainable
- I like thinking about what comes after all the thinking. When we’re done explaining, categorizing, and solving everything that’s explainable, categorizable, and solvable, what’s left? The best things? The most important ones? This reminds me of Nietzsche’s idea that capturing something in language is the end of our wonder, rather than the beginning... See more
alex added 1mo ago
via haley nahman, beyond explanation
- it feels like trying to explain a garden with a calculator
alex added 1mo ago
- Right now the Metalabel squad is in the throes of the creative process of something you’ll see in the Fall. We’re excited about what we’re working on but we’re also in the thick of it. We still don’t know where it will all lead.
Some days the not-knowing is agonizing. The first time I experienced the feeling came while building Kickstarter, and it o... See moresari added 2mo ago
- I find explaining any actually interesting idea usually requires explaining like 5 subsidiary ideas. If you’re lucky. If you’re unlucky it’s like 25 and either they’re ready for a three hour lecture or you’re not going to succeed.
from Tweet by Emmett Shear
sari added 5mo ago
- Many concepts can be explained concisely, in simple language, and we should all strive for clarity. But the aphorism is a mistake, for a number of thoughts approximate the carpenter’s craft, and to meaningfully reveal them requires time and attention. Sometimes these cannot simply be told to another at all, they must be grown. For a topical example... See more
from Long Distance Thinking by Simon Sarris
sari added 10mo ago
- Why are we drawn to cheap, re-usable, and safe language? The pressure to use modular Swedish furniture is similar to the pressure online writers face. We want quick results, we cushion our words, and we crave to be accepted.
from IKEA Words: How Not to Furnish Your Digital Home
sari added 1y ago
- Reaching wide audiences requires all-terrain language, and the urgency of the present moment, amplified by chronological feeds, doesn’t allow for much stylistic variety. Efficiency is key — compressing as much information as possible to the least amount of words is the ideal of all communication.
While I do agree that many areas of interaction, like... See moreandrea added 1y ago
- Many people who are talented in their various fields have access to insight they can’t share with others. They simply see something we can’t. They try to describe it—picture any Paris Review interview—and often hearing them talk about their process is interesting and informative. But they’re unable to describe the core thing—what gives them the sto... See more
from inarticulable knowledge by Ava
phoebe added 1y ago
- Very few people understand on any level why they’re able to do what they do. Why their relationship works. Why they’re good at their job. Why they’re happy. I remember Helena Fitzgerald writing that people make more art about sadness because it’s so much easier to analyze than happiness, and that continues to ring true to me. It’s really, really ha... See more
from inarticulable knowledge by Ava
phoebe added 1y ago