What is the curse of knowledge?

Once you know something, you find it hard to imagine not knowing it — so you assume others understand more than they do.

The mechanism is that knowledge, once acquired, becomes invisible to its owner: you can no longer mentally subtract it to see the topic through a beginner's eyes. So experts skip "obvious" steps, use unexplained jargon, and underestimate how much background a newcomer is missing.

Example: A seasoned programmer explains a concept to a beginner using ten terms the beginner has never heard, genuinely puzzled by the blank looks — the explainer literally can't feel the gap their own knowledge has erased.

Tip: It's why teaching is hard and why "explain it to a five-year-old" is good advice. Ask your audience to repeat it back to find the gaps you can no longer see.