Some questions are stupid - a short exploration.
I think “There are no stupid questions” is a stupid statement. It assumes that everyone has the same definition of stupid. It also assumes that everyone means the same thing when they call some questions stupid. To know if a question is stupid, one has to first know what stupidity means.
What is stupidity? Take a moment to think on your own and come up with a definition before you read ahead.
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Oxford defines it as “having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense.” This definition of stupidity is equally vague as the word itself. What is intelligence? What is common sense? How does one estimate both these things, in the moment, when one calls out something as stupid? By this definition, you can call anyone stupid based on your conception of common sense or intelligence. Due to this intentional ambiguity, the word gets thrown around left, right and center, without anyone actually knowing its meaning.
I prefer more useful definitions, at least when possible. Definitions I can use while I speak, write or think. For that reason, I am borrowing Carlo Cipolla’s definition of stupidity in this post. (I highly recommend reading his book on stupidity for a deeper dive into the concept.) Cipolla’s definition is useful and can be quickly applied while thinking.
Stupidity: The act of harming others without procuring any gain for oneself.
If you are harming others without gaining anything for yourself, you are probably stupid. By this definition, you are asking a stupid question if the question harms others without you getting anything out of the answer. Let’s break it down
- A stupid question has to be harmful to the one who answers.
- The answer to a stupid question must be of no gain to the one who questions.
How can a question be of harm? Because answering any question takes time and wasting someone’s time is one of the worse kinds of suffering you can inflict on someone. Wasting time is harmful and therefore any questions that waste time are harmful too.
Answering every question takes time, and that is why the second part of the definition - the gain part - is important. The stupidity of a question can be measured by the harm-to-gain ratio of the question.
- Harm > Gain, On the stupid side of the spectrum
- Gain > Harm, On the good side of the spectrum
- Gain = 0, Infinitely Stupid
The worse kinds of stupid questions take a long time to answer and are yet of no use to the one who asks.
Now having defined what ‘Stupid Questions’ mean. Let’s look at an example of a stupid question that people have asked me about books. I am inflicting self-harm by answering this question because I think it will reduce the harm suffered by the collective, in the long term.
How many books should one read in a year?
Let’s say I answer this question with the number 12. How is that useful? Am I reading 12 books of 200 or 1200 pages each? Am I reading fiction, non-fiction, or college textbooks? Let’s say I answer - I read twelve, 200-page non-fiction books a year. Even that answer is useless. Am I reading a book that is objectively dense to read? Or am I reading a pop science book? Am I reading history or physics? Am I reading a book in my domain, or out of my domain? I think I have made the point. The harm-to-gain ratio of this question is very high. There is almost no real gain to the one who asks that question, other than emotional satisfaction, irrespective of the time taken to answer or the precision of the answer.
Like this question practically all questions, with respect to reading, that start with ‘How many’ are stupid. Also are the questions that deal with reading speed.
Children And Stupid Questions
I hear some of you yelling - but what about children? Won't they be discouraged by this? Yes, they will be. I think one should do everything possible to keep the fire of unbridled curiosity burning in them. If letting them ask stupid questions help this objective, let them.
However, one also needs to make sure that if children carry this habit into adulthood, they do so willingly - knowing the difference between stupid and non-stupid questions. Humans have a tendency of avoiding harm/pain. Your friends and your teachers, bear your stupid question because they are incentivized to answer your stupid questions, the former with love and the latter with fees or love. The harm they face is counterbalanced by the gain they receive in the form of money and/or affection. However, ask too many stupid questions in a row and even the best of your friends will be forced to avoid the pain.
Summary
- Yes, some questions are stupid.
- The stupidity of a question can be measured by the harm-to-gain ratio of the question.
- The harm is usually in the form of time.
Version: Draft 1.1. Will change significanly with time.