Beauty in Brevity
“It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Refining an idea to its essence is an art. It takes focus and practice, and it requires brutal honesty and introspection. The elimination process can be grueling, but the payoff is worth it. The time invested in this practice transforms into a compounding return, resulting in a higher volume of stronger and clearer ideas over time. These denser ideas are easier to communicate to others and have structural integrity suitable as a foundation for new and emergent ideas. It took Einstein years of iteration to refine his thinking on mass and energy into a single equation. It took Claude Shannon over ten years to refine his thinking on entropy. Shakespeare noted, “Brevity is the soul of wit." An intuitive joy emerges from distilling an idea to its essence. Less is Exponentially More.
Notable Links this week
Henry Segerman on Numberphile speaking on his work on unconventional dice.
Looking Glass Universe has an honest part 1 and part 2 exploring our understanding of how light slows down in water.