The value of asking 'dumb' questions

The theme of today's very short article is about learning and how asking questions plays into that.

I was listening to the audiobook Ultralearning (Scott Young) which we recommended a few editions ago.

The goal ultra learning is to self-learn as quickly as possible, un-bounded from some of the constraints of more traditional learning methods.

The objective of speed is balanced with retention (keeping the relevant information in your head for the long term, or at least being able to re-learn quicker than it originally took).

For example, one of the challenges undertook by the author was learning a couple new languages. Their native language was English, and according to the challenge, they were not allowed to speak any English over the learning period.

A point that stuck out to me was that “asking ‘dumb’ questions is good”. Though it may be a common assertion, I don’t think this mindset is applied as liberally as it should be, at least in my case.

A couple of anecdotes from Feynman are referenced in the book. One I found from Feynman’s autobiography.

Doing this allows you to learn faster, and develop a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanics of whatever you’re learning.

A potential bias we may have is thinking that such questions will slow us down, as you think it is indicative that you don't know as much as you really do when in reality it usually only helps to speed up your learning.

Another potential scenario that might be conducive to reluctance to voice questions is in group situations, such as classrooms or workplace meetings, you may not want to ask a question because you fear it is a ‘dumb’ question.

The context where this is less so the case is when you don’t take the time to review the baseline body of knowledge and go straight to asking experts questions that may be answerable through, for example, a Google search.

Should we keep the article within the newsletter or have it as a link as we did now?

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