The Voice of Silence
The ability to capture complex ideas in a few words is a form of linguistic leverage.
Coming from a background in finance, I like to think of brevity as a kind of return-on-language.
Let’s express this as a function, R(x). It is the ratio of informational content (c) to the number of words used (x).
R(x) = c/x
As the number of words increases while holding information constant, the return-on-language decreases—the information has been diluted. Conversely, as the number of words decreases, the return-on-language increases. Concision makes language punchy [1]. This helps explain why vocabulary is useful and verbosity is inefficient (and boring).
Of course, if x equals zero, the function is undefined and communication collapses. Even having an insufficient number of words may be too ambiguous to convey anything meaningful. Additionally, effective communication isn’t just about concision, but also engagement. So, while brevity is valuable, it is not always paramount to clarity and style.
Nevertheless, I think return-on-language is a corollary to Occam’s Razor, where the best answer is the simplest possible, but no simpler.
Divine Silence
There’s an edge case with R(x): as x approaches zero, the return-on-language approaches infinity.
What could possibly convey meaning with almost no words?
I think the answer is God, or whatever you call the Infinite.
God doesn’t have to speak; He can reveal. He didn’t explain gravity to Newton. He dropped an apple.
But more than not needing to speak, God cannot speak—at least not without contradiction.
Language is discrete, made up of measurable and specific units. To speak is to define, and to define is to limit. Thus, if God even utters a single word, He contradicts His infinite nature.
Perhaps this is why God says little in scripture, why prayers go unanswered, and why religions emphasize ineffability.
His silence is not absence or negligence.
It is the only voice that preserves the infinite.
Footnotes
[1] Return-on-language can also be expressed in units of time. Here, the goal is to understand things quickly.
