Explaining Difficult Things, page 4

Everything Is Difficult, continued

These are simple questions. Our own internal computational mechanisms for answering these questions are incredibly complex (which partially explains why the field of robotics is still in its infancy). Since our internal mechanisms for answering these questions are complex, any process for answering the questions must also be complex.

The worst part about it is that a mechanical description of something is inevitably clunky, obtuse, and...well, mechanical. So even if you understand the steps necessary for coming up with this kind of description, you aren’t coming up with anything great.

Furthermore, answering questions about the appearance of an object rarely helps a reader understand anything useful about the true nature of the object. The appearance of an object is just its surface.

Our problems are just beginning.

So far I’ve talked about describing simple things that just sit there and don’t do much. What if our thing changes over time? What if I am trying to describe something without a physical embodiment, for example, the idea of consciousness; or the economic concept of the supply-demand curve?

Now do you understand why description and explanation is a slippery and difficult art?

Check out some of the "Stretch Your Brain" excercises to get you started.

Poetry, Fiction, and Non-Fiction

Some forms of writing do not always lend themselves very well to direct exposition.

Poetry is the most obvious example. Good poems very rarely contain literal descriptions of things, thoughts, or feelings. Even if they are about specific things, thoughts, and feelings.

Of course, the poet may well be very clear about matters that are only obliquely described if at all in the poem.

Poetics is highly metaphoric, and uses metaphor as its primary vocabulary. Metaphor is an extremely powerful means of communication that in some ways an opposite to direct and clear exposition. Part of the power of metaphoric communication, and poetry, is that it leaves some things shrouded in mystery.

Continued next page

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