Generating understanding of technology

The importance of mathematics as a tool for exposition has been greatly exaggerated by trends in educating people who hope to become technical experts. As a result, such experts have difficulty getting others to understand them, but are also diverted from a major point: if you have to use mathematics to explain something, you don't really understand it yourself. Technology is more difficult than science, both to do and to explain, because it requires a turn of mind that automatically seeks to find ways around what we "know" to be true. In reality, it is an art form which creates artifacts which can then be analyzed in term of math and science, but whose potential enthusiasts can be driven away by excessive scientific and mathematical orthodoxy. Thus, successful explanations of technology should be based on verbal descriptions and specific examples.