[moarrgan]

I feel like a lot of the commenters here are making a false assumption, arguing "just because you can explain something in simple terms doesn't mean you understand it - look how much nuance and complexity gets lost!" That statement makes the assumption that you must explain the subject to another individual to the point where they understand that subject as well as you do. Well, obviously you are going to lose complexity, just on the basis of explaining something in simple terms. The point is that if you cannot distill something to its core ideas to the point where someone else will gain a basic understanding of that concept, then you do not understand what its core ideas are, and therefore do not understand the concept itself. No one is arguing that what took you 10 years and a PhD to understand is something you can explain "simply" to someone and they will emerge with the same level of understanding as you have. No, they will emerge with a basic understanding of that concept if you have explained it well.