Willingness to look stupid • Hacker News Board

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#51

Post by politelemon » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 10:38 AM UTC

terabytest wrote: post #27

I guess the "stupid question" I'd ask of this article is: why don't you reveal your goals or thought process when challenged after asking a question that might be perceived as stupid? Take the Apple Store example: why not explain the reason why you were asking for a product by the size of its box when they responded by saying that size of the box does not map to size of the product? Being open about your goal would'v…

It was antagonistic and condescending. But it's being framed in an /r/iamverysmart "ironic" way.

Extrapolating from this article, this individual is likely a nightmare to work with due to their closed nature and unwillingness to share thoughts or decision making points.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#52

Post by Kaibeezy » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 10:39 AM UTC

Seth Godin has a whole schtick on the high value of what he calls “intentional serial incompetence”. Basically, if you’re unwilling to be seen as incompetent, you can’t deal with change. Good summary here - https://www.fastcompany.com/38442/change-agent-issue-31

My own experience has been that if you’re pretty sure you’re one of the smartest people in the room, you have an obligation to ask the “stupid” questions, because the rest of the room will be too afraid to look stupid.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#53

Post by tappio » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 10:39 AM UTC

Willing to look stupid == not caring what other people think of you. Most humans spend terrible amount of time thinking what others think of you. It's normal, but and good to some extent.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#54

Post by grasshopperpurp » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 10:41 AM UTC

supermatt wrote: post #7

Asking "stupid questions" frees you from the trap of assumption. This is why people who are good at solving (or helping others solve) problems ask "stupid questions". I suppose "rubber duck debugging" is a form of this.

Some years ago, I learned that I'm better at finding things when high. For context, my GF misplace things a few times a week, and I like finding them before she can. I realized pretty quickly that I did better under the influence, because I didn't rule out places the things might be. When sober, I wouldn't check certain places, because, That'd be a ridiculous place to leave that.

Sounds kinda dumb, but it was an ah-ha realization that extended beyond finding misplaced items.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#55

Post by pydry » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 10:42 AM UTC

One way to prove that he truly doesn't mind looking stupid would be to list times when he risked looking stupid... and it turns out he actually was.

It's happened to all of us though we dont like to admit it.

I'm sure it's happened to him too and I looked but I didn't see any of those examples listed.

Giving only examples of when people thought he was dumb and it turned out he wasn't... that's kind of just a roundabout way of humblebragging that you're an unrecognized genius.

Sadly I think this undermines the point of the article which otherwise makes a good point.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#56

Post by programmer_dude » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 10:43 AM UTC

Wow, this describes me to a T. The only difference being, you (Dan Luu) are much smarter than me.

The other day I got confused by a decimal separator on Hacker News and posted a comment saying so. I am pretty sure some people assumed I was stupid. Perhaps they did not want to put in the effort required to understand why some one might get confused in the given situation.

I will admit sometimes I fall into this trap too and assume the other person is stupid. Nobody is perfect.

I have nothing profound to say, just wanted to share this.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#57

Post by simonswords82 » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 10:45 AM UTC

lukeholder wrote: post #40

simonswords82 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess was that he needed a small box in order to fit it in his bag to take home?

Yeah but if that is true, why cause so much trouble and just said why you want the smallest box.

Totally agree - there's a difference between being willing to look stupid and going out of your way to look stupid!

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#58

Post by roenxi » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 10:45 AM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #26

roenxi wrote: post #4

In my experience, there is a slight nuance in the frame here. It isn't just that Mr. Luu is "willing to look stupid", it is that he has confidence that his decision making process will on average turn out better decisions than the go-to default strategy that most people employ ("copy the crowd"). Most people, if they rely on their own research and decision making, will do poorly. And even moderately clever people gen…

> It is important to ask [...] "how do I measure 'looking something'" when this sort of topic is bought up. Why is that?

"Looking stupid" is an assessment of what other people think. Eg, asking for the smallest box isn't stupid - Apple expects all the boxes to be good products. Even picking a product randomly isn't stupid and therefore shouldn't look it. The looking stupid part is an assessment of what the store clerk is thinking.

That is a very subtle, fraught and complicated assessment. There is a lot going on to do with the audience, context, risk and the truth. There is a lot going on behind the term "looking stupid" and it undersells the complexity of the social interaction. There are two parties, multiple issues and a lot to think about.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#59

Post by misja111 » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 10:46 AM UTC

bjarneh wrote: post #45

This post seems like some sort of humble-brag about not really being stupid, but being "willing to look stupid" to people who are actually stupid. To be honest, this entire post make him look stupid, but we all know now that he doesn't care what we think. I'm probably stupid for falling for another one of his clever schemes where he's just pretending to be stupid.

Exactly. E.g. this: "Although there are some downsides to people thinking that I'm stupid, e.g., failing interviews where the interviewer very clearly thought I was stupid"

This isn't just looking stupid, this is being stupid. Why in Heaven's name wouldn't you at least adjust your behavior when you're in an interview?

Acting stupid can be a convenient way to hold up your belief that you're smarter than the rest. Nobody will ever challenge your belief because hey, if they think you are stupid, it's because you made them believe that, which means that they are actually the stupid ones!

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#60

Post by coldtea » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 10:46 AM UTC

There's some "willingess to look stupid" here, but also some lack of emotional intelligence (which is probably not conscious/willed). There's a humble-brag/arrogance element too (which also marks for some "emotional stupidity").

As in, the reasoning applied to some of those cases is quite Vulcanian-like, maybe a comrade on-the-spectrum?