Re:The power of admitting ignorance
by wenc on Saturday May 02, 2020 @12:50PM
(#23053009)
Eh. Stupid questions of various varieties do exist (and it is not unkind to recognize that). They mostly arise from:
* mental laziness (didn't want to spend a few seconds thinking and just wanted to be handed the answer -- very commonly disguised as curiosity)
* bad faith (trolling, attempts at eliciting humor, "not really a question but a comment", agenda pushing)
It's very tiring to respond to stupid questions of this ilk -- it shifts the burden from the questioner to the respondent. It's not neutral, and having an environment of "no question is stupid" is draining -- psychologically, empathy is a finite resource like it or not. That's why there are so many guides on how to ask questions. (asking questions that elicit useful answers is actually a life skill!)
That said, I think the spirit of "no-stupid questions" is really about being open to (1) really out-of-left-field questions that challenge our thinking; (2) sincere questions that arise from curiosity; (3) clarification so that one doesn't persist in the wrong direction. I think this framing should be encouraged and environments/cultures should be cultivated to enable this.
But in my opinion "no stupid questions" as a catch-all is not practically tenable. The costs seem too one-sided.
* mental laziness (didn't want to spend a few seconds thinking and just wanted to be handed the answer -- very commonly disguised as curiosity)
* bad faith (trolling, attempts at eliciting humor, "not really a question but a comment", agenda pushing)
It's very tiring to respond to stupid questions of this ilk -- it shifts the burden from the questioner to the respondent. It's not neutral, and having an environment of "no question is stupid" is draining -- psychologically, empathy is a finite resource like it or not. That's why there are so many guides on how to ask questions. (asking questions that elicit useful answers is actually a life skill!)
That said, I think the spirit of "no-stupid questions" is really about being open to (1) really out-of-left-field questions that challenge our thinking; (2) sincere questions that arise from curiosity; (3) clarification so that one doesn't persist in the wrong direction. I think this framing should be encouraged and environments/cultures should be cultivated to enable this.
But in my opinion "no stupid questions" as a catch-all is not practically tenable. The costs seem too one-sided.