An explanation that starts with "it's complicated" can (often does) just mean "there are going to be a lot of parts to explain before I can stitch them all together for you."
Recently on Twitter I got into a couple of conversations about this from different angles. Mostly I come down on the "if you understand it, you can explain it" side, but the explanation isn't always short or simple, and sometimes starting out with "this is going to take a while -- are you sure you want it?" makes sense, and sometimes "this is going to take a while but it's important so please be patient and pay attention" goes there.
There are also explanations at different levels of abstraction, and some require a caveat of, "it's sort of like this but I'm sketching a broad outline here, not giving you enough detail that you can really say you understand it yet" is warranted.
Like, I'm not going to explain why PV effect works without my listener understanding photons and electrons and atoms first. If you want to know what it does, sure: light hitting certain substances generates electrical potential that we can make use of. If you want to know why it works, I first have to figure out how much background you're going to need. (And if you have more of that background than I do, then you probably already know how it works.)
Bottom line, some things really are complicated, and can be explained, yes, but the explanation will be complicated. And yes, yes, there are also things that are hokum and the complexity is just smokescreen, and things that aren't understood well enough to give a good explanation for. But sometimes things are explainable yet still complicated.
Re: Wish to know more?
Recently on Twitter I got into a couple of conversations about this from different angles. Mostly I come down on the "if you understand it, you can explain it" side, but the explanation isn't always short or simple, and sometimes starting out with "this is going to take a while -- are you sure you want it?" makes sense, and sometimes "this is going to take a while but it's important so please be patient and pay attention" goes there.
There are also explanations at different levels of abstraction, and some require a caveat of, "it's sort of like this but I'm sketching a broad outline here, not giving you enough detail that you can really say you understand it yet" is warranted.
Like, I'm not going to explain why PV effect works without my listener understanding photons and electrons and atoms first. If you want to know what it does, sure: light hitting certain substances generates electrical potential that we can make use of. If you want to know why it works, I first have to figure out how much background you're going to need. (And if you have more of that background than I do, then you probably already know how it works.)
Bottom line, some things really are complicated, and can be explained, yes, but the explanation will be complicated. And yes, yes, there are also things that are hokum and the complexity is just smokescreen, and things that aren't understood well enough to give a good explanation for. But sometimes things are explainable yet still complicated.