Re:What impossible meant to Richard Feynman
by BeetleB on Tuesday November 30, 2021 @10:02PM
(#29400177)
> most realized that someone calling your idea "stupid" doesn't mean they were calling you stupid--they would freely admit that they too occasionally offered stupid ideas.
Surprising that only one comment has highlighted what I'm about to say so far, so I'll repeat it:
This is great if you know you're in a community where you know that people say an idea is "stupid" they are being intellectually honest and not manipulative. The number of such communities out there is a rounding error near zero, and likely has always been - even within academic circles.
The reality is that there are plenty of people who will say an idea is "stupid" because they have an ulterior motive, and they thrive in places that normalize the use of such phrases in the name of intellectual honesty. This is clear when you look at the numbers: There exist very few places where you can reliably accept that calling an idea is stupid means little more than that an idea is stupid. For context, I went to an engineering program ranked higher than Caltech's equivalent department, and this technique was definitely weaponized there.
I don't doubt that Caltech is as you describe it, and it is indeed really nice to be in such an environment. However, trying to use this as a general policy elsewhere will very likely end up attracting and fostering truly toxic people.
Surprising that only one comment has highlighted what I'm about to say so far, so I'll repeat it:
This is great if you know you're in a community where you know that people say an idea is "stupid" they are being intellectually honest and not manipulative. The number of such communities out there is a rounding error near zero, and likely has always been - even within academic circles.
The reality is that there are plenty of people who will say an idea is "stupid" because they have an ulterior motive, and they thrive in places that normalize the use of such phrases in the name of intellectual honesty. This is clear when you look at the numbers: There exist very few places where you can reliably accept that calling an idea is stupid means little more than that an idea is stupid. For context, I went to an engineering program ranked higher than Caltech's equivalent department, and this technique was definitely weaponized there.
I don't doubt that Caltech is as you describe it, and it is indeed really nice to be in such an environment. However, trying to use this as a general policy elsewhere will very likely end up attracting and fostering truly toxic people.