Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Willingness to look stupid

danluu.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

481–490 of 811 posts

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#481

Post by ChrisKnott »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #121
lolc wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wondered about that story and concluded that the author knew which computer they wanted. They also knew that this computer came in the smallest box. So they only had to give that second bit of information to get what they wanted. It is a bit condescending in my view to withhold that information from the clerk. But then again, I'm only making assumptions. Also, I've done similar things where I refused to let on my i…

If it happened , he purposefully chose a request that he knew would generate confusion and discomfort in a situation with someone he has power over. It reminds me of the high school bully who fake-punches you, knowing you'll react, and then punishing you for how you react. At best he purposefully made things more difficult than they had to be. She was absolutely right to think that he was a "bozo." I generally strive…

I notice he doesn't afford his victim any generous assumptions.

He's like; fuck you for thinking the guy basing his $2000 computer purchase on cardboard is an idiot - I'm actually a secret genius CPU designer don't you know??

Well yeah like, maybe she's got a Master's degree in Packaging Design and knows that the smallest box, in fact, has weak cornering or cannot be reclosed because it has to be ripped open or something.

Is his request even well defined? There might be different, shortest, thinnest, shallowest boxes. Does it need to fit through a letterbox? Oh, ok, you don't care about depth then...

Not to mention the double meaning that "box" has in computing...

I noped out of the article at that point which is a shame because I do agree with the general idea.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#482

Post by notenoughbeans »

lugged wrote: post #229
HeckFeck wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 anyon…

Facts don't care about your feelings and the truth doesn't hurt points of view that are legitimate.

Didn't expect a quote from Tom Macdonald when I opened HN this morning.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#483

Post by jldugger »

Ensorceled wrote: post #247
alexandrerond wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally. There's distance between: "people think I'm stupid because I'm not scared to show that I don't know about something" and some of the examples which are more along the lines of "people think I'm stupid because I act as a self-entitled genius who provides little context or reasoning behind choices and expect everyone to line up behind with no question" What is the Apple store employee supposed to do to not mak…

> The insurance dealer does his job and tries to get a higher premium? Not surprised. This is actually an example of where the author IS stupid. You will often be found "at fault" in cases where you are not actually at fault (the other driver lies better than your truth) and there are many cases (at least in Ontario) where you are legislatively at fault even if you did nothing out of the ordinary (making a left turn…

> You will often be found "at fault" in cases where you are not actually at fault (the other driver lies better than your truth) and there are many cases

As I understand it, Dan wants to skip on collision / comprehensive, not liability. I can imagine a number of scenarios in which you might not want to bother insuring an asset, even as you insure yourself for damage to others you might be at fault for.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#484

Post by danielmarkbruce »

wokwokwok wrote: post #384
btrask wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article does not undermine its own point. In fact, very, very few articles ever undermine their own point. In order to undermine your own point it means you've failed to construct a logical chain of thought. But that is what people do all the time in their daily lives. Maybe children would undermine their own points, or someone posting their first ill-thought comment on Facebook. But I think most people will lea…

You can construct an argument that we never landed on the moon if you cherry pick your data carefully. That’s the point being made here: not that his examples are wrong, that they are cherry picked to support his views. It may be superficially thought provoking, but it is not compelling as a logical argument. There are tangible downsides to ignoring expert advice; you are not a god. You cannot be an expert at everyth…

> You can construct an argument that we never landed on the moon if you cherry pick your data carefully.

This is a really nice, concise way to make the point you are making. Doesn't it seem like this is the central problem with politics today? Everyone has their own data and everyone is logical. You can't have a functional discussion under such scenario. People don't see any problem with their own logic because there isn't any. People can't definitively show a problem with the other's logic because there isn't any.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#485

Post by beervirus »

There’s a lot of value in this, and I try to do it at work. I’m confident enough in my abilities that I don’t mind asking questions when there’s something I don’t understand. And I find that people who won’t do that are insecure, and often for good reason.

But still… it can be taken too far. Just as a matter of being a person who can socialize normally, what’s wrong with spending a few seconds explaining yourself? “This is gonna sound silly, but I want the computer in the smallest box. Here’s why.” That kind of thing.

I don’t let my ego get in the way of learning new things. But I don’t go out of my way to sound like an eccentric weirdo either.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#486

Post by samuel »

ctvo wrote: post #210

Can I ask a stupid question? Who is Dan Luu and why does he keep appearing here? The content hasn’t been amazing. It’s not amazing here either. The blog doesn’t have an about me page as far as I can tell. Google says Dan is a systems engineer at Nvidia. Edit: Found the About page https://danluu.com/about It's at the bottom of articles, but not accessible on the home page. If this were an actual technical topic, I'd b…

I was too afraid to ask, honestly.

I have another one. Why don't he spend 5 minutes making the content readable? Add some margins, it's all what it takes.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#488

Post by saeranv »

Narann wrote: post #386
andrewla wrote: post #338

This has happened to me frequently at my current company. I get pulled into a meeting about something that I have no context on because it touches my area of expertise, and the discussions have apparently been stalling out. I brace myself to be the idiot. I'm going to waste everyone's time asking questions that everyone knows the answer to, and I just got looped in, so everyone's going to feel like they need to walk…

Such behavior can be a good thing, but you could fall in your own bias thinking you know the problem better than them, to finally realize the problem outpace your scope and you are just impacted as anyone in the room. It happen for me once, and this was an humility lesson. Now I keep in mind I can feel I understand the problem then realize later I was all wrong too.

Yes, and I would argue this is one of the goals of asking basic questions. Specifically, when asking foundational questions, one of the objectives I keep in mind is to figure out the scope and my ability to understand the scope of the problem. Understand where that boundary exists is useful information.

Personally, I don't really care about this second-order effect that asking such questions might identify others that don't understand the problem correctly. I think it's, as you say, creating its own bias that pollutes your thinking. I've worked with enough experts outside of my own domain expertise, that this is not something that happens often.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#489

Post by not2b »

saeranv wrote: post #480
serial_dev wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't like to say "I'm going to ask a stupid question". First of all, it feels disingenuous to me, people who say that never actually think that their questions will be stupid. And the second reason is that I think I might even convince myself that my questions are stupid... I know it sounds silly to some but little things like how you talk about yourself (and your questions) is important. I often ask these "stupid…

Yeah I feel the same way. I never understood the "This may be a stupid question..." framing. Asking fundamental questions in order to build up to a more complex understanding is the most effective way to learn, I have no hesitation about asking such questions.

One reason for the framing (when used by a senior person or someone in authority) is to give permission to more junior people who may be holding back on their own questions because they are afraid of looking bad.

Re: Willingness to look stupid

#490

Post by lazybreather »

Here is when I feel really stupid. There is a highly upvoted post on HN. Read the article and feel like you have learnt something really impactful. Largely agree with the content. Only to get to the comments section to see the article getting torn apart left right and centre. Thank you HN. You make me look and feel very very stupid. :)
Post reply on HN