Smart people might ask questions, but I also know a lot of dumb people that ask questions, too.
What I've Learned About Smart People.
51–60 of 182 posts
Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.
#52I've noticed the pseudo-smart are quite annoyed by questions. RTFM, they reply. That's pseudo-smart for "I don't know".
Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.
#53Reminded my of this, from Gladwell's Outliers : "The way you were raised, namely with wealthy or less fortunate parents, also plays a role. Gladwell explains that when wealthy parents drive their children to the doctor, they tell their children things like, “Johnny, now if you have any questions, be sure to ask the doctor. This is your opportunity to talk to him about any health problems you’re having….” And so on. I…
"The way you were raised, namely with wealthy or less fortunate parents, also plays a role. Gladwell explains that when wealthy parents drive their children to the doctor, they tell their children things like, “Johnny, now if you have any questions, be sure to ask the doctor. This is your opportunity to talk to him about any health problems you’re having….” And so on. Disappointed that, in a thread about asking quest…
I wouldn't put Gladwell down that much, he's simply a contemporary writer of fairy tales to me. Aesoplike, they have lessons and histories that we can potentially relate to, while not attempting to be the last word. Does Gladwell's writing need to be any more than a nudge in whatever direction the reader is already inclined?
That said, I never liked that passage. There are passive and active parents in all walks of life, but I don't think the economics are the point of the quote as much as an admonishment to take a bit more control.
Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.
#54Reminded my of this, from Gladwell's Outliers : "The way you were raised, namely with wealthy or less fortunate parents, also plays a role. Gladwell explains that when wealthy parents drive their children to the doctor, they tell their children things like, “Johnny, now if you have any questions, be sure to ask the doctor. This is your opportunity to talk to him about any health problems you’re having….” And so on. I…
Slightly off-topic, but I'm curious to hear more of what HN thinks about Gladwell. Some writers and scientists I respect, perhaps most notably Steven Pinker, have been vocally opposed to the "shoddy scholarship" of Gladwell's work, while others, including many bloggers I've encountered here, have quoted him with great enthusiasm (I believe Peter Norvig references his "10,000 hours to expertise" figure from Outliers in his famous essay on becoming a programmer in 10 years).
Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.
#55Asking questions and knowing what you don't know and being honest about it is super important. But so is moving forward, getting things done and leadership and sometimes constantly questioning your world with fresh eyes every morning can mess with these things. It's also exhausting. I find folks who have been surrounded by extremely smart hands-on analytical types most of their lives are slow moving and not great lea…
I completely agree with this sentiment. I think this blog post mostly described the characteristics of a skeptic, and many "smart" people are skeptics. However, I don't necessarily correlate skeptics with getting lots of things done, like Steve Jobs did.
Ideally, there is some balance between making assumptions and asking questions that leads to great leadership and innovation. I think this balance occurs when one questions everything within a certain domain they wish to control (for instance, Apple and how people interact with computers), but then just accepts the common views for topics outside of their domain.
Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.
#56A lot also has to do with comfort. If I'm the smartest person in the class I feel a lot more comfortable asking questions. I know that if I have a question then a good percentage of other people do too. But if I'm not the smartest in the class (or simply not familiar with the material) I may be more inclined to look on Google or follow-up afterwards with the presenter. I don't know if the question I have is worth the…
Whenever I find myself thinking that I'm the smartest person in the room I like to take a deep breath and look around me more carefully. Always a poor assumption to make, in my experience.
I was using the term "smart"/"smartest" largely following the use in the post. You can replace it with the term "relatively competent in the domain being discussed".
Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.
#57Is there a difference (or some way to differentiate) a smart person from a very skilled professional?
I'm asking this question to see if a Smart Person is the byproduct of getting skilled in a different set of areas, and getting very professional and focused in one or two.
I'm certainly not as smart as some fellow HNers here. But, few minutes ago, I have been reading blog posts and emails I wrote 6 years ago. "What a retard I was!"
Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What the article doesn't mention is that the smartest of people perpetually ask themselves questions regarding what they believe they understand. It is remarkably easy to convince yourself you understand something... when you're really just going through the motions This reminds reminds me of a good quote from Charlie Munger: "Above all, never fool yourself, and remember that you are the easiest person to fool."
Hey, did he take that from Richard Feynman, or was Feynman first with the quote: "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool."
Given the relative timelines, and my own citation in my quote collection to Feynman, I'm happy assigning a very high probability to it being Feynman.
Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.
#59What the article doesn't mention is that the smartest of people perpetually ask themselves questions regarding what they believe they understand. It is remarkably easy to convince yourself you understand something - a mathematical proof, the Halting Problem, advantages of some programming framework/style/language, when you're really just going through the motions and remembering what others have said, kind of memoriz…
Richard Feynman said something to the effect of your first paragraph which stuck with me:
"You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing — that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."
Re: What I've Learned About Smart People.
#60Asking questions and knowing what you don't know and being honest about it is super important. But so is moving forward, getting things done and leadership and sometimes constantly questioning your world with fresh eyes every morning can mess with these things. It's also exhausting. I find folks who have been surrounded by extremely smart hands-on analytical types most of their lives are slow moving and not great lea…
I completely agree with this sentiment. I think this blog post mostly described the characteristics of a skeptic, and many "smart" people are skeptics. However, I don't necessarily correlate skeptics with getting lots of things done, like Steve Jobs did. Ideally, there is some balance between making assumptions and asking questions that leads to great leadership and innovation. I think this balance occurs when one qu…
The people who get things done in this world are often, but not always, cocksure bastards who never second-guess themselves. They may live their entire lives in epistemological error but they don't give a rat's ass since they succeed at laying wenches, closing sales, advancing up the corpolitical greasepole, etc. Hell, they don't even actively not-care about the truth. The thought that they may be wrong doesn't even enter their minds in the first place. They are at philosophical unconscious incompetence. They just don't care.
We can learn from this. Smart people should be winning! at life, after all. Maybe a combo of strategical luminosity and tactical cocksurity can be found? :)
As a matter of fact, this struggle to avoid the extremes of reckless delusion on one hand and self-sabotage on the other, is one of my major life motifs.