What makes you feel stupid? « HotForWords Forums

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What makes you feel stupid?

(24 posts)

Started 10 months ago by fromvikingstock
Latest reply from matalexwolf

Tags:

women

fromvikingstock
Member

I've been using Twitter for about a week now, and every time I try to do something, I feel like I'm a dunce. I load TweetDeck and I can't figure out how send a tweet. I find a great link to put in a tweet but I can't make it fit. I open so many tabs in my browser I forget where I am, where I just was and how to get back. I'm awash in newness.

Then I just read an article that made me feel grateful for the whole experience. It turns out that feeling stupid is natural part of being on the threshold of new learning. It means you are stretching your mind. It's ironic. Feeling stupid is a smart thing to do.

Please reconsider the title of this forum after reading the article below and let me know if it applies to you.

http://jcs.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/121/11/1771

Posted 10 months ago #
leoNard
Member

Very interesting...spin the bottle stuff! I like "Productive stupidity means being ignorant by choice.-- 8)" and to me, that what is an {'enviromental ' lawyer}. I think salaries are dictated by stupidity and tHe Intelligentsia(elite professionals) take over. Make no excuses. very good,though <blockqute>THINK and act not stupid

Posted 10 months ago #
Me Lika Do The Cha Cha
Member

For awhile, HFW sponsored coComments, which was a program allowing you to follow and keep track of comments posted by people you could follow. It had many bells and whistles, little of which were ever explained. I even asked, begged and pleaded with Marina to give us lessons beyond the minimal introduction and sales pitch she had run. It was all to no avail, of course - and over time, Marina must have realized what a cumbersome program it was. It consumed far more resources when loading pages, etc., than it was worth in terms of a gratifying return.
Now, I see from what Vikinstock has written, Twitter is apparently not very gratifying, either.
It's really frustrating when a program doesn't live up to the promises it makes; or makes you spend a lot of time learning only enough to be inefficient at using it.
Lots of folks are talking about the Twitter in the same way they were "oh-so-impressed" with coComments.
The last thing I want on my equipment is another program robbing bandwidth and dragging down the speed characteristics. I don't know what the overhead is with Twitter, but it was way overkill with coComments.
You know what REALLY makes me feel stupid? Finding that intelligent people are still sucker enough to drink the Kool Aid, and not actually do their own thinking anymore. It is more depressing to have to engage in arguements and discussions with people over issues that are fundamentally about right and wrong, as they politicise and agenda-fy silly beliefs into faction oriented discussions lacking depth of thought, education and understanding.
Some folks really just want me to shut up and go away, but I am only doing what Obama said to do. In fact, it was one of the few times he said anything that made sense.
He said to "get in peoples faces" and put their feet to the fire to explain and defend their arguements. I've had to do this a lot, but run into those who cannot focus on the issues, and resort to childish name calling and diversionary strategy, rather than debate topics in a mature adult fashion. Some examples you may have seen recently are individuals like Jeanine Garafalo and Brende Sykes, who can only be vindictve and cruel in their remarks when challenged to defend issues they hold dear. The global warming/cooling myth is another issue where unqualified people are making legislation affecting us all, based purely on pseudo-science, unsupported by the data. In the end, it's all about seizing control, money and power - robbing us of our individual liberty, on the pretense that we are all guilty of some criminal offense leading to the demise of the environment. It's all so ridiculuos.
Until people demonstrate REAL intelligence, I'll just have to be the odd man out, I guess.

Posted 10 months ago #
fromvikingstock
Member

@Leonard:

Thank you for reading the article. I can tell you did because the quote you gave is near the end. For those who don't have time to read the whole thing, the general idea is summed up in the last sentence:

"The more comfortable we become with being stupid, the deeper we will wade into the unknown and the more likely we are to make big discoveries."
-- Martin A. Schwartz --

Department of Microbiology, UVA Health System, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA

I get your point Leonard, and I agree. I think the author should have said Productive stupidity is FEELING stupid by choice, not BEING stupid by choice.
I also agree with you that it is important not to act stupid. That is carrying it too far. Someone once told me that when really smart people get together they talk about what they don't know -- not what they do know. This seems to be a practical application of the idea of productive stupidity.

Oddly enough, it seems to be working for me. I'm getting into some very interesting areas through Twitter and I still feel like I'm barely treading water. It's important not to give up, though. Just keep swimming.

Thank you for all of your contributions to this and other forums. These discussions are a rich and rewarding experience for me. Have a good Memorial Day week end and thanks again for your kind thoughts on the holiday.

Posted 10 months ago #
Jeorney
Member

@Viking stock

Time, the universe, mysteries, origins (women?) and our relationship to them are the things which make me feel stupid at times (if that’s the right word). Maybe ‘wonder’ is the right one. Things that has not been coalesced into knowledge, belief or conviction.

Take Time for instance: I wonder if it’s either a by-product of change or an illusion brought about by our relationship to change, and therefore not real. The sensation of Time may be persistence of memory (neurons firing and the energy decaying) and therefore a useful illusion. Then again, perhaps everything we perceive with our senses (and perhaps mind) is an illusion of reality. Does this mean, therefore, that time travel is out of the question?

I’m not saying any of this is fact - just conjecture. I remain “stupid” in these areas because I have not read much about them, so my thoughts are my own ramblings of the mind. Then again, my thoughts about Time does remind of the Yin-Yang symbol of the continual cycle of change. Perhaps we are not capable of ‘true’ original thought, and all we do is tap into knowledge that’s waiting to be discovered.

==================================================================================
@Cha Cha

I agree. We’re in the information age and not enough people think for themselves or exercise critical thinking (I’m not talking about anyone on the HFW forum). When embroiled in a hot debate, many dish out nothing but unsubstantiated opinions. When asked to account for their opinion, no reasoned argument is forthcoming. Often they resort to sophistry or yet more opinions. It’s like they accepted any random thought in their head proven fact. Or they hear something (maybe on TV) which they except as fact without questioning it.

Sure, opinions are useful and sometimes it is difficult to explain their source. Often they are based on emotion only rather than reasoned logic. Ideally, one should temper the other.

Posted 10 months ago #
Greatest Potential
Member

I suppose fessing up to what makes me feel stupid and then having others use that against me would make some go "gotcha!" and think they'd gone and made me feel stupid but then I could care less what others think of me because if they really were so smart they wouldn't have to bother making another appear stupid so it seems a vicious cycle such as that seems quite stupid to me and makes me wonder sometimes how I could ever be a part of something so stupid as a life full of apparent vicious cycles and misconstruencies.

Posted 9 months ago #
fromvikingstock
Member

@Jeorney:

You had me at "women".

Posted 9 months ago #
bsomebody
Member

One of my high school students was trying to explain quantum physics to me. I thought that was the extreme of my stupidity. Then the student said to me, "This is easy for me. The confusion you feel, now, is the same way I feel when you talk about 'historical relevance' or 'comparative cultures' to me." So, I not only felt intellectually inferior, but pretty sucky as a teacher, too.

Posted 9 months ago #
HotForWords
Key Master

bsomeboy, that should have made you feel good.. the student was giving you a compliment!

Posted 9 months ago #
wyo550
Member

Stupid means predictable- not dumb. I'm only posting this to see what AVATAR shows up for me. How stupid is THAT? I don't exist without my avatar! Hey look everybody! It's my new avatar! I'm validated as a human being! My life has REAL worth now that my new avatar is showing! Thank you God in Heaven! I feel so much better about my existence! God Bless Al Gore for inventing the internet!

Posted 9 months ago #
Greatest Potential
Member

INTELLIGENCE ALERT!(lol)

God Bless Al Gore for inventing the internet!

Al Gore didn't invent the internet.

Posted 9 months ago #
beevee14
Member

@bsomebody
I agree with M on this one(and No, I'm not brown-nosing!) I think the student was pointing out that while quantum physics is hard for you, he feels the same way about history. Thats not stupidity. I would say that any man who can freely admit what he doesn't know in a public forum is not stupid. I mean, you could have came on here and wrote a one sentance paragraph on why posting a weakness is such a terrible thing as to make you contemplate world order and your place in it!

BTW, did you ever notice that people who like history/hate math and vice-versa?

I don't think the student was cracking on you as a teacher either, unless he is the one who always has his head down after you get hit by a spitball!

Posted 9 months ago #
Greatest Potential
Member

@Marina

You are a very clever teacher!

bsomeboy, that should have made you feel good.. the student was giving you a compliment!

Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it. ~ Niels Bohr

I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. ~ Richard Feynman

Posted 9 months ago #
scott12345
Member

Every day, you'll have opportunities to take chances and to work outside your safety net. Sure, it's a lot easier to stay in your comfort zone.. in my case, business suits and real estate.. but sometimes you have to take risks. When the risks pay off, that's when you reap the biggest rewards.
real estate

Posted 9 months ago #
Greatest Potential
Member

spamming is just dumb

Posted 9 months ago #
MtnDood
Member

Oh my god I feel so stupid when someone calls me out on something I didn't mean to do!!

Posted 9 months ago #
Greatest Potential
Member

doesn't take much to make me feel stupid (doh)

Posted 9 months ago #
matalexwolf
Member

Feel stupid when disorganised, forgetful, walking into things, not listening to others or to own instinct, not taking action, spinning right out of action, talking too much, not talking enough, writing too much or not enough, procastination, own stupidity, jealousy and love.

So I learn and try to become more organised, avoid walking into things, listen more, do more, know what to say, when to say it, when to shut up, read more, observe other peoples stupidity, deal with envy, allow acceptance and trust.

I guess you would be stupid by not learning from stupid mistakes!

Posted 8 months ago #
pennsyltucky9
Member

I appreciate the things that make me feel stupid for the wonders they truly are. Departures into quantum physics notwithstanding, I'm sticking with Einstein.

He said: "The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know." This has never been more true for me than it is right now. There just isn't time enough in my piddly lifetime to learn all I want to know about all the things for which I have had, or will one day have curiosity. Each page opens a whole new book. Welcome to Universe University...

Posted 8 months ago #
leoNard
Member

"I feel with my fingers" as my mother would say....

Posted 8 months ago #
Zephyr
Member

It makes me feel stupid when I raise my hand up in class, out-of-habit, and can't remember the answer when the teacher calls on me, or I blurt out an answer that is completely, totally wrong Silly Me!!!

I don't think stupidity is a mistake. It's just a part of our daily lives to help us learn a little bit faster about how to handle our surroundings. Take it from the girl who makes the most trip-ups in one day

~*Zephyr*~

Posted 8 months ago #
Captain Jack
Moderator

@ fromvikingstock, Twitter is very difficult to figure out what to do with it. I struggled for about 6 months before I figured out a use for it that would benefit people and myself. Feel free to email me or tweet me if you have any questions about twitter. I've become a twitter guru you might say.

@ wyo550 Why do you think Al Gore invented the internet? Even he stated he did no such claim. It was just his words were miss interpreted. Oh now I see. You were just kidding. LOL.. funny

@anyone,
----
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it. ~ Niels Bohr

I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. ~ Richard Feynman
-----

If quantum theory can not be understood then it's not solid science. Even Einstein didn't agree with quantum mechanics. I think unified field theory will make quantum mechanics nearly an obsolete tool.

Posted 8 months ago #
Gerald III
Member

One of the things that makes me fell stupid is when I am working on a problem/issue with a piece of hardware/my computer that has gotten me all worked up. Out of sheer frustration I am about to give up, when I suddenly find the solution to the problem. The thing is that the solution is usually something very simple that I had completely overlooked. I feel incredibly stupid, but I can laugh about it in the end.

Another thing that makes me feel stupid is when I'm gaming and I get stuck at one point in the game because I don't know what to do. The most recent example occurred a couple of days ago when I was playing Crysis Warhead and had come to the first segment of the chapter, "Adapt or Perish" where you have to pursue someone in a hovercraft.At one point you come to a frozen beach, and you can go no further in the hovercraft. It took me 3 days to figure out that you have to exit the hovercraft and climb up the back of the beach to reach the road that lay behind it. I felt like a complete ignoramus, but I was also frustrated about how that segment of the mission was so poorly set up.

The one thing that makes me feel incredibly stupid is when I am having a conversation with someone, and due to a curious mental condition which is beyond my control, I incorrectly interpret the information that I have just received from the other person. As a result I say something that makes no sense as to what the conversation is about, much less what the other person just told me. Not only does this make me feel stupid, but it makes me look stupid as well, which only makes me feel more stupid. It's actually one of the reasons I don't socialize that much anymore, even with close friends.

Posted 7 months ago #
matalexwolf
Member

...believing people who lie makes me feel a right dumb arse; Feeling pretty fucking stupid of late! The ears hear the words that are contradicted by what the eyes see. I guess actions do speak louder than words, words really don't matter at all, in reality! In children you would expect them to fib and lie, but with adults when involving emotions and trust is pretty sick. Must have heart of stone to say one thing only to do another or their heads are mistaken. No friend of mine if you lier lier, keep the fuck away

Posted 7 months ago #

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