Makes me wonder what his reason was for wanting the computer that came in the smallest box.
Willingness to look stupid
151–160 of 811 posts
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#152One 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 roundabo…
Or it is an unwillingness to be vulnerable to the entire internet. Why? Probably fear of being misinterpreted and pilloried by strangers.
It is a justifiable fear. For example, it is easy for people to interpret an imperfect amount of courage as "humble-bragging".
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#153As a man, every condescending comment you get in person only tells you one thing: your deadlift PR is still too low. Get jacked and all these problems disappear. No matter how silly your questions and objections, no matter how dumb they may think you are, all your concerns will be treated very seriously, criticism couched in most polite terms, and weird stuff written off as eccentric. (It helps to be taller, well-dre…
Are these seriously the quality of comments we are happy with on Hackernews these days?
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#154>>"I had to confirm three times that I only wanted coverage for damage I do to others with no coverage for damage to my own vehicle if I'm at fault." But.. why tho?
The premise of insurance is that you pay more on average over time but remove very expensive tail events. Basically you pay the insurance company to reduce your risk.
If you are wealthy enough (and mentally prepared) to absorb tail events without much negative effect on your life, it can be perfectly rational to not insure damage to your car.
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#155I don't know who this guy is but he certainly succeeded in looking stupid.
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#156After a terrible breakup years ago I took a trapeze class. Before we got up on the trapeze bar, I spent most of the class telling everyone how bad I was going to be at it. When I got home I lay in bed confused. Why did I do that? This article is spot on. I was afraid of being seen to be bad at something. Have you noticed? We spend almost our entire adult lives doing things we’re good at. Anything we do that we’re bad…
Exactly! We should practice being a beginner for our entire lives. It's a constant reminder to have that beginner mindset even where you think you are an expert. I took up Jiu-Jitsu at age 40. Talk about humbling. I also catch myself occasionally doing what you did and mention how terrible I am/will be as a defensive mechanism. But, the more comfortable I got at being a beginner led to even faster learning. This atti…
> But, the more comfortable I got at being a beginner led to even faster learning. This attitude has spread through other parts of my life, even areas where I'm not a beginner, and has led to improvement across the board.
I think there's a ton of wisdom in this. You learn to learn by, surprise surprise, being a beginner at something. Exposing yourself to broad areas in which you're a total newb can teach patience (I've yet to learn basic carpentry because I am one of those people who hasn't got the patience to measure twice), too.
This is really insightful: being a beginner is going to teach you how to learn things, and that's a hugely transferable skill. (Besides, it's also really enjoyable.)
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
This reminds me of the simple brilliance of Socrates. He began from the premise that he knew nothing, and would ask all manner of simple questions building on top of the previous answers. It wasn't long before he uncovered how little everyone else actually knew, but what separated Socrates was his honesty: he knew nothing and admitted it. Naturally, the established powers and polite society didn't find this to their…
> Naturally, the established powers and polite society didn't find this to their liking. We all know how his story ended. Socrates was sentenced to death not for exposing how little everyone else knew. The esteemed philosopher was sentenced to death because he was deliberately annoying people - like a fly - with badgering questions that would force the questionee into a corner. Today we call this method of exposing c…
Ah, didn't expect the venerable Meletus to show up in the conversation today. How's the weather in Athens?
> sentenced to death because he was deliberately annoying people
I see you're still certain of Socrates' motives.
When you claimed he was 'corrupting the minds of the youth' and 'denying the gods of the city' you were simply repeating the charges laid at any philosopher who threatens the powers that be.
If anyone asks too many uncomfortable but honest questions these days, in some societies you will still be met with death, though here we have a milder but still harsh punishment known as 'deplatforming'.
But more to the point, if you are so certain of what you know, you could explain it and wouldn't find questions 'annoying'. Frustration justifies the case, because it means you really do know nothing but simply aren't honest enough to admit it.
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
This reminds me of the simple brilliance of Socrates. He began from the premise that he knew nothing, and would ask all manner of simple questions building on top of the previous answers. It wasn't long before he uncovered how little everyone else actually knew, but what separated Socrates was his honesty: he knew nothing and admitted it. Naturally, the established powers and polite society didn't find this to their…
> Naturally, the established powers and polite society didn't find this to their liking. We all know how his story ended. Socrates was sentenced to death not for exposing how little everyone else knew. The esteemed philosopher was sentenced to death because he was deliberately annoying people - like a fly - with badgering questions that would force the questionee into a corner. Today we call this method of exposing c…
He was certainly very annoying, but his crime was misleading the youth, making them distrust authority.
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#159Re: Willingness to look stupid
#160> Going into an Apple store and asking for (and buying) the computer that comes in the smallest box, which I had a good reason to want at the time This is such an odd example. Because OP makes an uncommon request, the sales person can't parse what this request is about, and neither can I for that matter, and OP doesn't give a reason. So the sales person thinks: What an odd request , which in turn is parsed by the OP…
Perhaps this example is intentionally ambiguous in order to illicit an informal survey of how internet conversations deal with ambiguous tales of social interactions.
Taking OP's thesis about the origin of "stupid questions" at face value, this small meta lift seems fitting.