Don't forget you were there

The curse of knowledge has antidotes

If you ever wondered why your conversation partner does not seem to understand that trivial thing you are discussing, it's time to take a step back. You got tricked by the insidious army of cognitive biases your mind deployed against you. Yes, that thing might be obvious to you, in hindsight, after having spent months or years thinking about the problem. But if your conversation partner is less experienced, chances are they don't. There is even a fancy Latin phrase for this: argumentum verbosum, i.e., proof by intimidation.

I annoyed my classmates in high school maths class by announcing that the solution was trivial. So I also know that being in the place to say that “it's obvious” feels great. It imbues you with a sense of pride and knowledge and can act as a dose of medicine against imposter syndrome.

But it is annoying, demoralizing, and useless for others. I would even say that this is one of the biggest intellectual faux pas you can commit—if you care about others' development and not just your ego. This mentality made me challenge statements labelled obvious when writing reviews—while acknowledging the (page) limit of the scientific paper.

There are simple things that can help battle the curse of knowledge. Seek out feedback from others. A different perspective helps spot the curse of knowledge—if you are a black belt, you can do this by imagining how a novice in this field could look at it. Getting rid of all the knowledge we hoarded over the years is hard, but maintaining beginner's mind can be beneficial and even drive success.

If I could give you one piece of advice, I'd give you the same one I am constantly reminding myself of:

Never forget that you were there, at the beginning of your journey, eager to learn but not knowing much.

If your journey was hard, let's make it easier for the others coming after us.