I think this happens in many domains. The way an expert thinks about a topic is very different from the way a novice thinks about a topic. It's not that the expert thinks in more complex ways than the novice; I'd actually argue that the expert thinks in
simpler ways. But these ways of thinking are entirely different from each other, and when you're in one camp, the behaviors of the other camp appear unexplainable and complex.
When folks on the outside of category peer across the gap, they see a huge array of ways of speaking about both familiar and unfamiliar concepts. When an analogy is made across the gap, folks think "is that all it is?" or "how is that useful?" or "why are you making something so simple into something so complicated?". The categorical ways of thinking form such a vastly different basis of thinking that it's the translation into and out of that basis that's deeply complicated. When you're actually across the bridge, it's as simple as anything else -- but good luck explaining that to non-experts!
I've had managers who have the same attitude to software engineering. To them, if we understand the problem to be solved and the needs of the users, it's as good as solved! Why are you software engineers complicating things!? But I think many of us on this forum would side with the engineer, rather than the manager, because many of us are across the bridge. And how often do you have to try to translate what you do into something they can understand? (How often do they actually get it?)
When folks on the outside of category peer across the gap, they see a huge array of ways of speaking about both familiar and unfamiliar concepts. When an analogy is made across the gap, folks think "is that all it is?" or "how is that useful?" or "why are you making something so simple into something so complicated?". The categorical ways of thinking form such a vastly different basis of thinking that it's the translation into and out of that basis that's deeply complicated. When you're actually across the bridge, it's as simple as anything else -- but good luck explaining that to non-experts!
I've had managers who have the same attitude to software engineering. To them, if we understand the problem to be solved and the needs of the users, it's as good as solved! Why are you software engineers complicating things!? But I think many of us on this forum would side with the engineer, rather than the manager, because many of us are across the bridge. And how often do you have to try to translate what you do into something they can understand? (How often do they actually get it?)