If we for instance take, as an example, someone thoroughly explaining something which is clear to 99,9999% of the earths adult population don’t you think the remaining .0001% could come up with some? I get that this community is a place to allow people to ask questions they can’t or won’t ask elsewhere but I certainly feel stupid sometimes when I ask questions while attending courses etc.
So bottom line, how do you ask questions when you feel stupid?
I have long believed that the only stupid question is the one that hasn’t been asked.
I feel it’s better to ask the question (and feel stupid for a few minutes) than to remain stupid for the rest of my life. :)
Exactly. There may be a piece of knowledge that a person should already have, but not asking the question just means continuing to be ignorant.
I’ve always liked the saying ‘there’s no such thing as stupid questions, only people too stupid to ask and fix their own ignorance’
Yeah this is true! In my case it became more of a “I’ll Google that for a long time and just not learn it right now” I don’t know the fear of looking stupid was just too much I guess.
I’d agree but add that a question can be stupid if it’s asked in an intentionally obtuse or malicious way
That’s not stupidity though, that’s malice, which is a whole different tub of bananas.
Fair enough, also +1 for ‘whole different tub of bananas’ Ahahaha
such a wholesome answer
I do agree, and I see the benefits of asking the question. During my education however I would much rather Google things for hours instead of asking professors, which I don’t feel is the smart thing to do as the professor could probably have answered it in mere minutes. I did not take the smart route on that one though…
But your route taught you to research!
Where as I thought this community was a place where no stupid questions were asked. I wildly misunderstood the title lol
No stupid questions!
No, stupid questions!
Yeah should be named the second one
Dang it, did I just miss the entire point of the community?
Try asking this in Stack Exchange and see the real answer
[Closed] Marked as irrelevant
That’s truly nightmare fuel to me…
Well, the truth is, there are “stupid” questions—or at least, there are questions you could have figured out yourself. There are people that will judge you for asking them, and in a certain light, they have a point. Challenging yourself to figure things out is a valuable skill.
HOWEVER, most people don’t feel that way, and your fear of being judged is often much stronger than necessary. You should ask yourself, “would I get more valuable information from asking the question than figuring it out myself”? Be honest, but if the answer is yes, it’s a good question.
The other thing is, the consequences of asking a stupid question are almost always much less than the consequences of doing something wrong as a result. To illustrate that point, take an example from my life. I’m a manager, and I have two employees. One of them has never asked a question the entire time she’s been working with us, despite me explicitly asking her to. She’s determined to figure everything out herself, but the quality of her work is pretty poor. I have another employee who asks questions constantly. When I review his work, there are very few mistakes, because we’ve already discussed any concerns he’s had. Guess which person I’m considering promoting?
That applies just as easily to a class setting. If you take the risk of sounding stupid when you ask questions, chances are not only will your test scores be better, but your classmates will probably appreciate the questions because they have them as well.
Exactly this. I am a teacher, and I always tell my students “There is no such thing as a stupid question as long as it seeks to clarify, or to deepen one’s understanding. Any question posed with the sincere desire to better understand something is welcome.”
There are students who will ask questions because they weren’t attentively listening to my explanation (their peers always say something like “He just explained that”) — I will patiently explain it to them again while the rest of the class listens in (or tunes me out because the were listening and don’t need or want to hear it again.)
I want to encourage them to ask questions whenever and where ever they encounter things they do not understand; I hope that this mindset encourages them to do so whether be at school, at work, or in their personal relationships.
Best answer so far, but I think it discounts one small but important thing, so I would like to elaborate on it. In a time when the scientific method itself is being thrown into distrust, how is a reasonable young person supposed to determine who they can trust to be truthful?
You can’t expect them to personally repeat the entire history of science experiments to verify the findings for themselves.
They do have one potential solution though, they can ask us. They can then watch us hash the answer out amongst ourselves, using the internets naturally argumentative nature to their advantage. They can directly question particular answerers, to unearth more detail that pertains specifically to what they are trying to understand.
This is all actually a pretty intelligent strategy, and I think it highlights the importance of spaces specifically like this one. It’s why I participate in them fairly actively, as my own internet debate chops are very, very thoroughly practiced, and that can actually be useful to others.
Great point. Draw on the shared knowledge of other people. Not only is it a smart idea, but it’s the entire foundation of what sets our species apart. To intentionally deprive yourself of that is ludicrous.
Because for each thing that “Everyone knows” by the time they’re adults, every day there are, on average, 10,000 people in the US hearing about it for the first time.
(The alt-text is also particularly relevant)
There’s also ELI5, which may be more useful in some cases.
ELI5 is nice, I use that for work at times! I also like the positive way of looking at hearing new things for the first time. I guess insecurities behind asking stupid questions comes more from the point of view of being judged by people who are ignorant themselves.
The lucky 10,000 is part of why I love these kinds of communities/subs.
Absolutely there are stupid questions.
But a question is never stupid just because you don’t know the answer.
People are afraid of looking stupid by asking a question that other people know the answer to. That’s understandable, but its better to ask and learn then to be ignorant forever. And that’s the kind of question people want to make room for when they say there are no stupid questions.
However, questions that are off topic, or trolly, can be stupid because they aren’t asked in good faith.
There are no stupid questions, only stupid people.
My mechanics teacher always said the only stupid people are the one who are unwilling to learn, and really most people are just uneducated.
Calling them stupid implies they are unable to learn and therefore not at fault for their situation. That’s pretty rare.
And they’re stupid because they don’t know things. They ask, we answer and then they become a little bit less stupid.
You’re conflating ignorance with stupidity.
I live by “every perfect rule has 1 exception”
I’m sure there’s a stupid question out there, I’m also certain that I’m the one who’s asked it.
That’s actual a nice way to look at it! Didn’t think to apply the old every rule has ask exception but that feel really obvious in this situation as well.
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That just feels way to real!
There are no stupid questions, only stupid people. 🤪
I don’t think the distinction between “stupid / non-stupid” is the important one to make. The important distinction, imo, is between “honest” and “dishonest”.
If someone wants to honestly learn the answer to something, how could this be a stupid question? Even if all other people in the world do, in fact, know the answer, it still wouldn’t qualify as a stupid question if asked in good faith.
However, there are so many questions asked in bad faith and not coming from a desire to learn something. These are the real stupid questions.
So, to answer your question: if you’re feeling stupid for asking something, just think about your intentions: do you ask because you honestly want to know the answer? Go ahead, and know that in this case there are no stupid questions - only stupid answers.
That’s a good way of looking at it, I like the way of thinking of it as “do I want the answer” and the distinction you’re making between honest and dishonest rather than stupid or not!
I could not figure out why my eyes were burning yesterday.
Turns out I forgot I was cutting jalapeno peppers about 5 minutes earlier and never washed my hands.
I thought of that this morning.
Careful around the eyes!
-Sean Evans
Lots of good responses here, but my more simplified response is, we won’t judge any questions to be stupid in this community.
Sure, in other situations and other places, some questions are stupid, but we’re encouraging people to ask anything at all here without them being called stupid for asking.
When people say there are no stupid questions. My go to question is:
Is this question I’m currently asking, a stupid question?
