[zigman1]

I find the analogy with the car in the beginning a bit weird. He says it is not important to know, and only a handful of readers will learn something from it.

But later he states that "the essay is something you write to figure something out". So why contemplating about the audience and how important it is to them in the first place?

Maybe I was nudged because I enjoy reading and listening knowledgeable people about (classic) cars, but i wonder if pg would make the same statement if the subject of the essay would be a computer science technicality or obscurity.