Saturday, March 13, 2010

Theories

Einstein is famously quoted as having said, "If you can't explain your theory to an 8-year old,  you don't understand it."  That's close,  what he actually said was, "If you can't explain it simply,  you don't understand it well enough."  I haven't been able to find out when or where he said it,  but I like the second one better so it must be the correct one. 

I think that government should be required to apply that precept;  if something can't be explained simply, and make sense to a third-grade class, it can't be enacted. Think of how this would affect "health care" legislation.  And maybe if the SEC had been required to explain credit default swap derivatives I would still have a retirement account...

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