The Clarity Paradox

There is not enough matter in the universe to store enough information to completely explain the workings of a single atom.

I read an article that explained this recently but I can't remember where. I think it was a discussion about information theory, all a little bit lofty for my uneducated head. My understanding of it however is that absolute clarity is impossible given the finite nature of the universe.

Explaining
Take Newton's laws and the laws of thermodynamics for example, long held as an elegant, concise yet complete explanation of matter and energy. Einstein's work on relativity clarified some apparent deviations from these laws at cosmic scale. Today, work continues on further clarifying thermodynamics and relativity, notably at subatomic scale. It seems that each advance in our understanding of the universe requires an exponential step in the information required to explain it.

The benefits of using more words to explain something diminish increasingly quickly.

Understanding
Most competent high school graduates have an adequate understanding of Newton's laws. Some university graduates have a handle on the theory of relativity but not as many as you would think. The greatest minds in the field have trouble making sense of matter and energy at the subatomic scale.

The more information that is applied to clarifying a concept the more difficult it is to understand.

It seems that clarity of understanding favours incomplete definitions over exhaustive explanations. Of course this is no revelation to many people as demonstrated by common idioms like K.I.S.S. and less-is-more.