A Theory: Concisely articulated ideas tend to be true

The reason the recovery is so slow is most Americans no longer have the money to buy enough to create more jobs. It’s inequality, stupid.

— Robert Reich on Twitter

I RT’d that. It may be an oversimplification, but it aligns with my views. Plus, I have this theory. The theory goes like this:

It is difficult to state a falsehood concisely. Conversely, ideas stated concisely tend to be true.

This is because truths tend to be self evident in simple terms. When you boil an idea down to its simplest terms, it is often readily apparent whether it stands on its own (evidently true), or requires additional explanation or argument to defend (less evidently true).

Turned out to be true

“Tell me, what was I like when I was young?”

[Ann] Bowers tried to give him an honest answer. “You were very impetuous and very difficult,” she replied. “But your vision was compelling. You told us, ‘The journey is the reward.’ That turned out to be true.

— From Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, emphasis mine.

I’ve always considered “the journey is the reward” to be a meaningless platitude, but I suppose if it’s what an early colleague of Jobs most learned from him, there may be something to it…