Author: George Baker
On Asking 'Stupid' Questions
There are two things that I have depended on to get me this far in life: never giving up, and asking stupid questions.
Some people I have met do not like stupid questions. I would go as far as to say some people don’t like questions at all; a quote from Simon Blackburn springs to mind:
“Reflection opens the avenue to criticism, and the folkways may not like criticism. In this way, ideologies become closed circles, primed to feel outraged by the questioning mind.”
What is a stupid question?
For me, it has a lot to do with the beliefs of the questioner: I should know this already; this is basic knowledge; others will think me stupid for asking…
Sound familiar?
What I have found is that “stupid” questions: those that may seem obvious, “basic”, or even maybe “stupid” to some, have given me such a fundamental grasp of certain topics, because I know the “why?” behind so many things.
I remember an encounter I had with someone I was teaching to code. I did not start with print("Hello World") in Python. I started with a piece of paper. I made sure they understood base 10 as a number system. Of course, we all understand base 10 without ever thinking about it. But I started with thinking about it. Only after we’d thought about it did I make the point that a computer cannot work with base 10 in the same way we do.
I tried to create the why behind so many of the fundamental truths of programming: why base 2? Why binary? Why do I have to be concerned about this?
After the first teaching session they asked me “how do you know everything in so much detail?” I’m sure it’s because I asked stupid questions.
When learning about computers, I asked questions like “why can’t a computer work with base 10?”. When learning about programming, I asked questions like “why do things need to be indented in Python; why can’t it just understand whatever I write?”. Some of my classmates told me these were stupid questions. But now, I understand the why behind why programming languages are constructed in the way they are. I understand the problems that the designers had to deal with when they created Python.
It’s not just factual based subjects where stupid questions have got me far.
“It’s rude to wear caps indoors”… “why?”
Constantly asking questions about things can actually unravel so many myths, facts presented as opinions, bad cases of groupthink, and dangerous ideological opinions.
So, in conclusion, I’d encourage everyone to follow their curiosity and ask more stupid questions. It’s vastly helped me to understand things more deeply and with more insight into how and why things work the way they do.
Perhaps asking stupid questions might uncover new and innovative ways of doing things which others might overlook.