The importance of stupidity in scientific research • Hacker News Board

Re: The importance of stupidity in scientific research

#11

Post by andrewcooke » Tue, Sep 06, 2011, 1:51 PM UTC

atakan_gurkan wrote: post #10

I would like to counter the opinions that claim that the author should use the term "ignorance" rather than "stupidity". IMHO, the inadequacy that one feels during research does not arise from not knowing the answer, it is a result of not being able to figure out how to approach the problem and reaching an answer. More than this, most of the time you do not know what the appropriate question is. This is not ignorance…

the idea that stupidity is harsh, and that we have to rename this feeling as ignorance is all part of the problem. everyone is so hung up on not being stupid. even after reading the article, it's what people care about...

you can argue all you like that the author should use another word. but what you have to get over when you're doing research is exactly that feeling. the feeling that people are trying to hide from by playing with words.

not sure i am making my point well - what i am trying to say is that the people who are complaining about the term "stupid" are not helping anyone. they're just exhibiting the same instinctive reaction that you feel in research. whatever name you give it, you feel the same.

Re: The importance of stupidity in scientific research

#12

Post by pradocchia » Tue, Sep 06, 2011, 3:29 PM UTC

iqster wrote: post #9

When you operate in uncharted waters, independent thinking makes for a good compass. As someone who studied comp sci in undergrad, I felt I didn't develop these skills as much as folks in the humanities.

I don't know if it's independent thinking so much as synthetic thinking. In comp sci, you get a lot of mileage out of analytic thinking. It maps nicely to linear processes in a computer, and to the rigor of programming languages.

So much mileage, in fact, that your non-analytic faculties atrophy from disuse.

Re: The importance of stupidity in scientific research

#13

Post by c0riander » Tue, Sep 06, 2011, 3:57 PM UTC

andrewcooke wrote: post #7

note that the author is male; the person who dropped out is female. for some reason, women, on average, seem to take "being stupid" to heart, while men can ignore it. i have no idea why this happens, but i've seen it again and again. [no criticism of either sex intended. i simply read the article, then thought "i wonder if the author was male and the other person female?", went back, checked...]

Anecdotally speaking, that reminds me of a woman's comment about why she found raising a VC round so exhausting and difficult -- it was much harder for her to shake off the criticism and doubt constantly lobbed at her by potential investors, whereas male CEOs did not seem to take it to heart the way she did.

Re: The importance of stupidity in scientific research

#14

Post by andrewcooke » Tue, Sep 06, 2011, 4:22 PM UTC

andrewcooke wrote: post #7

note that the author is male; the person who dropped out is female. for some reason, women, on average, seem to take "being stupid" to heart, while men can ignore it. i have no idea why this happens, but i've seen it again and again. [no criticism of either sex intended. i simply read the article, then thought "i wonder if the author was male and the other person female?", went back, checked...]

i've been trying to think of possible biases in this. one that i've come up with is that (i am probably going to explain clumsily here, but i hope you get the idea) women tend to share problems and express feelings more. so perhaps it's just that i hear women discuss this problem more.

maybe men feel as bad, but don't say.