I don't want to be a genius
The beauty of simplicity
A wise philosopher once said,
“Ain't no need to complicate it
We both know that's overrated
We've been there, it's safe to say it ain't our style
It's just that simple, S-I-M-P-L-E
Simple as can be
It's just that simple, S-I-M-P-L-E
Simple as can be”
This is actually an excerpt from the song Simple by Florida Georgia Line. It has 334,654,693 streams on Spotify. Although it is from a song it might as well be a part of modern philosophy because much can be learned from it. The story behind the song is pretty easy to understand, the love these people have is simple. It is easy as 2 + 2 = 4, simple. We as humans yearn for simplicity. We don’t want to overcomplicate things and wish for everything to be made at an elementary level. The notion from Florida Georgia Line doesn’t just apply to love, it applies to life.
Take where we are in life now. This time of year, we want simplicity because it is the time of year everyone dreads, tax season. Americans hate taxes. Not only because the government is taking your money but because it is a monotonous, boring process that is often made to be more difficult than it needs to be. It is not hard to find yourself in a conversation this time of year at least once every few days about if you have done your taxes or not. People trying to figure out if they are alone in the procrastination of the terrifying process of doing your taxes.
Thank you, TurboTax
However, not to fear, things exist to make this process easier, the beauty of innovation. Packages such as TurboTax and H&R Block help to make the process easier as they will guide us through preparing our taxes for little to no cost. Either way, the benefits greatly outweighing the cost. It is a rather effortless process that doesn’t require much thinking, as we just mindlessly answer questions and at the end, our taxes are complete. We are told how much we owe or how much we will receive and boom, it is done!
There is a reason why TurboTax has existed since 1984 and the developer, Intuit, has seen the stock grow 119.84% over the past five years, mainly driven by TurboTax. They make one of the most dreaded things, filing taxes, simple. There is value in simple. We seek it out. To make things simple is a talent and something that everyone wants to gravitate towards.
Simple over Genius
Albert Einstein once put it best in the value of being simple. He listed what he believed to be the five ascending levels of cognitive prowess. For those unfamiliar, cognitive prowess is best defined as being skilled in the process of acquiring knowledge and the process of thinking or reasoning. Everyone wants to be skilled in our thought process and skillful in our ability to reason, that is why we exist.
We may immediately look at this and think “Wow, I always wanted to be defined as a genius.” However, quite the opposite is true. There is value in simplicity. Just look around in the world and at the things that make our life simple and how well they do. Wireless headphones exist so we now don’t get the wire caught on everything, everywhere we go. An E-Z Pass exists so we no longer must sit in miles of traffic waiting to pay for our tolls. A GPS exists so we don’t have to buy a bunch of maps or print out a bunch of sheets when traveling. Type in the address and you are on your way. Often, we overlook the value of simple, but it is simple that keeps this earth moving forward.
Peter Kauffman put it quite well in his talk on the Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Thinking when discussing simple versus genius he says, “Why is simple, the right kind of simple, better than genius? Because you can understand it! I bought this book – I usually take it when I’m giving a talk like this. It’s the Ethics by Spinoza. Spinoza’s ethics book was written by a true genius. And guess what? You can’t understand anything in it. But can you understand what I walked through — mirrored reciprocation? Okay.”
To build on Peter Kauffman’s point, The Republic by Plato is considered to be one of the most influential pieces of philosophy and political theory. It is considered to be one of the most important books of all time. However, it is nowhere to be found on the list of bestselling books of all time. Titles such as The Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird top those lists. The Republic is written by a genius, Plato, but it is not made to be understood by the common person or made to be simple. The piece is intellectually intensive and requires deep intellectual capacity to understand. However, The Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird are made to understand and often, read and used in teaching at the middle school level. This plays into why they are atop the bestselling lists, they are simple.
The Genius is too hard to understand but the simple individual, well, they are easy to understand, thus why it is better. What good is information you can’t understand? It may be the best information in the world, like The Republic by Plato, but if it is not made to be understood what is the use of that for most people? It may as well be in a foreign language.
Efficiency and Simplicity
The human population wants simplicity. We live in an efficient world and simplicity breeds efficiency. How can we make checking in at the airport easier? Enter an airport kiosk. How can we make traffic more efficient? Enter Traffic Light Sensors. If something is efficient, it might as well be simple.
Oftentimes, on social media we see this notion rein true. Namely, three things come to mind:
“I ain’t reading all that. I’m happy for u tho. Or sorry that happened.”
We see this meme that is sent on any long form tweet that attempts to break down a concept, idea, happening, etc. but is found to be too long and difficult. It was not made to be understood. It was not simple. It was probably written by a genius who understands the process and idea of what they are describing but they have not made the concept or idea to be understood and at an elementary level thus we do not want it to read it. We want a short explanation or note that quickly provides what we need to know.
The Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
Image courtesy of Twitter
Take what we recently we saw with Silicon Valley Bank. A situation that caused mass panic and hysteria. Many people were left wondering what was happening and how it was affecting them. The general public didn’t care about Silicon Valley Bank’s mismatch of assets and liabilities or how their value of long-term treasury bonds catered due to the Federal Reserve. They wanted a simple explanation of what was occurring and how it may affect them. People sought out the simple explanation.
The NHL in NBA terms
Image courtesy of Instagram. The comment section of the Boston Bruins’ post on the Tyler Bertuzzi trade.
This is even true in sports. Not everyone can be an expert in every sport, but they still wish to follow the big happenings and seek to understand. The Boston Bruins acquired Tyler Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings for a first-round and fourth-round draft pick. Boston fans who were not as well versed in the hockey world were asking for a TLDR; or too long, didn’t read; on what the trade meant for the Bruins. The people want it put simply. If this occurred in the NBA, a sport they are more well versed in, what would this be like? No one wants to go do deep research on the situation, they want a quick, short response to know how they should feel on a trade their team just completed. This is everywhere in sports and not just specific to this situation.
Even take finance or the stock market, it is a daunting thing to work to understand. That is why groups such as Tastytrade have implemented a simple process for their customers to follow that is backed by short, informative research videos to show why it works. A big part of their process is they instruct individuals to put on a trade at 45 days to expiration and then reevaluate the position at 21 days to expiration. They make things simple. There are no Fibonacci sequences or capital asset pricing models that people must follow and compute. It is a simple process backed by daily breakdowns of why things work and why you should follow their methods. Simplicity breeds success. There is a reason why Tastytrade sold for $1 Billion in January 2021. People love simplicity and Tastytrade takes geniuses who understand the complex ideas and break down those complex ideas down into simple ideas. Sounds about right.
Parting Words
We should work to not be a genius, but to be simple. Tastytrade is simple. TurboTax is simple. A GPS is simple. There is incredible value in all of these things and all of these things have been massively successful because they are simple.
Being simple is the ultimate tool. We live in a world where we want everything to be quick and simple. There is a reason why we see quick rich schemes boom. It is something that seems so simple. If I can just buy this amount of crypto, if I can just hit this parlay, or if I can just have this penny stock go to the moon. Simplicity is the magnet that attracts everyone. No one ever purposefully looks for things to make their life more difficult. No, we look for things to make our life simple and that is what I don’t want to be a genius, I want to be simple.
P.S. I highly recommend reading this transcript or listening to the audio. It exposed me to Albert Einstein's five ascending levels of cognitive prowess. Peter Kauffman on a Multidisciplinary Approach to Thinking.