The layout of this writer’s website certainly proves their point, but I’m not sure how it helps them.
Willingness to look stupid
601–610 of 811 posts
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#602> I'd rather spend my "weirdness points" on pushing radical ideas than on dressing unusually
Agree. This could be a post in itself.
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#603When I was younger, I often met people who seemed kind of dim to me, at first, and later found the majority of them to be orders of magnitude brighter than me. It was not hard to connect the dots, the reason they were so much brighter was (in part) exactly because of what made them initially seem dim.. They asked questions, honestly. Not the showoff kind of question you ask to show how much you know, but real, honest…
This article speaks to my soul. All my life I've been told how intelligent I am. It's been such a massive driver for my own insecurities and fear around anything I do, since my identity is tied up so much in being right and not being wrong, in continuing to present this image of infallible intelligence. It's likely also fed into my issues with depression I've had all my life. I can consistently get people to see how…
Read the "Mindset" book by Dweck. Was introduced by our school, and it felt like it was written for me as well.
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#604Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, this looks like a typical case of the "XY problem" where it's really hard to tell if the person making the request is framing that request wrongly/with unnecessary constraints to satisfy what they actually want.
This is why I look for sales training in my hires. Its clear that the Apple rep was asking probing questions trying to wrestle him into a decision funnel. I've sold laptops to a bunch of grandmas who've given me questions like that, and never to a "CPU designer". ...come to think of it, maybe one of the grandmas was a CPU designer all a long!!
She's probably fuming right now that you dared ask her a concrete question about what she wanted.
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#605Dude cares so little about looking stupid that he writes an essay to explain that he really wasn't actually stupid all the times he looked stupid.
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#606True story:. I'm a techie and a nerd and I've always been near the top of my class. One of the things that I enjoy is it really dry humor. And one of the ways I can get a laugh out of people is by stating something that is obvious as though I just figured it out. Or intentionally making massive understatements. Like if I just broke my arm and I would say something like, "I have found that breaking your arm is unpleasant."
When you say it around people who are generally quick witted, it takes a second for them to grok what you're saying and then they figure out that you're cracking a joke and then they smile, usually laugh.
But years ago I found myself working as an aircraft mechanic. And my cohorts whom I rode around with were very blue collar in language and culture, and several of them had been chosen as "mechanic" because they hadn't performed that well on an aptitude test.
So one day I made one of my famous observe-the-obvious funny statements, and one member of the group whom I'm pretty sure was one of the low aptitude scorers, looked at me with obvious disgust and said, "You must be one of the dumbest people I've ever met."
He didn't understand why I started howling with laughter.
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#607Earlier quoted context omitted.
Poor communication does not imply everyone involved is incompetent idiots. It's unfortunate, and important to address, but if you quit any project every time there is inadequate communication, you'll never get anything done. Assumptions are inevitable. They get harder to question the longer they go unquestioned. Newcomers to a group can see them better. Perhaps cutting people some slack and helping them work better b…
If you want to cut people slack, go cut them slack. Here's a question: look around you, you think cutting slack is what's needed? If you think so, alright then. I don't.
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Re: Willingness to look stupid
#608Earlier 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.
Here's a gigantic PDF listing ways the truth can hurt all kinds of things: https://www.nickbostrom.com/information-hazards.pdf
Re: Willingness to look stupid
#609Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you want to cut people slack, go cut them slack. Here's a question: look around you, you think cutting slack is what's needed? If you think so, alright then. I don't.
I work with good people, and when they screw up, I cut them some slack. Everyone sometimes screws up. Some more than others. Some distractingly so, and some so often that it's not worth continuing the relationship. But the mere fact that someone at some point screws up does not make them irredeemable. So, yes, I think cutting people slack is important. This is totally orthogonal to being qualified for a job, or being…
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Re: Willingness to look stupid
#610I'm willing, but I also have no choice in the matter, so it's hard to say whether it's benevolence or banality.