From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Tue Nov 19 2002 - 02:25:07 MST
Brett writes
> Nothing kills a conversation like agreement :-)
Well, surely I can find something to argue with
or denounce in your post. What is insomnia good
for if not that?
> Well speaking from personal experience, not
> necessarily on this list, sometimes I ask
> what I think is a polite question, to learn
> that I've just interrupted the speaker who
> was about to tell me, and others, the answer.
Yeah, that happens occasionally to me too, but
after all, that can hardly happen on-line! Oh,
only if it *were* possible to interrupt some
people! ;-)
> Generally I think we have to calculate the risk
> of not asking (and possibly not finding out)
> against the risk of asking and perhaps this
> includes the risk of revealing what we don't know.
Very true. One tries to struggle against the latter,
but it's practically in our genes not to want to
appear foolish. But one should work with oneself
to overcome this as much as possible. We don't want
to descend to the unfortunate level of some American
Indian tribes and many Arabic traditions in which
one is *so* conscious of reputations that often one
dare not answer a question that a respected person
has failed to answer, and an instructor simply cannot
take the chance of asking someone a question to which
he doesn't know the answer.
> I wonder sometime what prize insights don't come out
> because some people fear ridicule.
Worse, I wonder how retarded the asker becomes by his
fear of embarrassment or ridicule. But infinitely
worse is the effect on all others present, who,
after a while are afraid to ask any questions at
all. Isn't it totally stupid when an instructor
snows an entire room of people, all of them
reluctant to bring it to his attention that
they don't understand? His time is wasted too,
because he has no idea. (Unless he's an asshole,
of which there are not just a few.)
> Another anecdote that comes to mind, dunno if its
> true, was that at some point Napoleon was presented
> with the plans to build steam ships that would have
> enabled him to cross the channel. In the anecdote
> as I heard it, he didn't follow up on the designs
> for a potential new navy because of the fear of
> looking ridiculous.
So N may have missed his big chance. Yet I can
sympathize with any powerful leader who must maintain
respect, and so has to watch out more than the rest
of us do.
> > > I respect all these [extropian champions] and
> > > realise they have earned through their work the
> > > right not to have to answer idle ill considered
> > > questions from novices that have made no attempt
> > > at backgrounding at all.
> >
> > You have a grave misunderstanding. No one is ever
> > under any obligation, unless it's self-imposed,
> > to answer any question. How could they be? [Asking]
> > can't hurt.
>
> I agree that no one is under any obligation to answer,
> but how have I misunderstood?
Oh, just a couple of things pushed my buttons. Practically
any sentence that suggests there are "rights" beyond legal
ones makes me want to speak up and dissent.
Secondly, your statement rubbed my egalitarianism wrong.
I often see, more I think now than years ago, certain
European tendencies (sorry) towards authoritarianism
that bug me. People can become not only afraid to ask
Herr Doktor Doktor a question, but even start to consider
themselves out of place and presumptuous for failing to
*believe* everything that Herr Doktor Doktor says.
Even right here on this list, we have had posters who
first examine someone's credentials before assessing
whether what they say makes sense. If the "assessment"
is not sufficient, then whoever it is is dismissed as
as a "nobody", and his or her arguments are deemed
completely unworthy and ignorable. "Trust content, not
speakers", as Eliezer says ;-) (as if he were an authority
or something).
So I don't like it when anyone, even Extropian Champions
are paid excess respect, because it furthers this deplorable
tendency. Naturally and properly, we each respect some
speakers more than others, but when this respect starts
being *recognized*, or constantly alluded to, then we lose
the egalitarian spirit, and one feels like barricading the
streets and rounding up the "nobility".
Lee
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