Old Forum Bad stupid & good stupid

[Mattsirpeace]

Nobody is smart.  Everybody is stupid.  But there is bad stupid and good stupid.

Bad stupid is when you are so stupid you don't know you are stupid.  Because you are too stupid to know that you are stupid.  Most people think what they think because they thought of it.  And can't think of anything else because if it was worth thinking they would have thought of it already.  Most people live their whole lives this way.

Good stupid is when a miracle happens and you discover that you are stupid.  This doesn't stop you from being stupid, but it's better than being bad stupid.  At least now you can learn from mistakes and have a better-than-random chance of making true statements about objective reality.  That's the best any of us can do.

Anybody who claims to be smart is wrong.  They are stupid, in a bad way.

Anybody who claims to be stupid is right.  But at least they are stupid in a good way.

 

 

[citizenfox]

"the problem with the world is that intelligent people are full of doubt and stupid people are full of confidence"

Charles Bukowski

 

 

[Mattsirpeace]

Bill!  Thanks for posting that quote!  Exactly what I meant.  Loved your "The Zen of the Gym" thread.

I'm immersed in Taleb's books at the moment and thought I would post my bro-summary of Taleb, Feynman, Popper, Hume, Socrates, Bacon (yum), good science, empiricism.

My second-favorite fitness writer is Dan John.  Experience-based and authentic.

 

[dmaxashman]

-----Anybody who claims to be smart is wrong.  They are stupid, in a bad way.

 

you are coming dangerously close to saying confident people are dumb.

 

 

 

[Mattsirpeace]

"Danger is my middle name."

-- Austin Powers

Yes.  I am a deeply unconfident person, and proud of it.  Unconfident people are thoughtful.  Thinking leads to learning, learning leads to knowing, and, ironically, knowing leads to confidence.

Genuine confidence is great.  But if you study evolutionary psychology, you'll see that it's imitated by either fake confidence or oblivious confidence.  Look at Niggel's post on personal trainers.  They are either fakers, or clueless.  Taleb's first book is all about overconfident egomaniacs.

I don't ever want to be an expert.  I prefer to remain a student.

 

 

[yorkshirecomrade]

I'm too stupid to even understand this thread

 

[ideaman]

Lol. Good thread. Yes, remaining a student of life is much more enjoyable.

You can't out-think stupid.

 

Love Dan John's stuff. Reading some now as a matter of fact.

 

[Mattsirpeace]

It turn out there is already research on this.  It's called the Dunning-Kruger effect:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

Once you start noticing it, it's hard to not see it everywhere, sort of like bad posture.  In mainstream gyms it isn't just painful to watch, but actually dangerous.  Unfortunately a lot of trainers fall into this category too, knowing just enough to lose common sense and not enough to be genuine experts.

Top-down solutions always have unintended consequences.  But if someone is on the cusp of getting a clue, a book like "Intervention" might be the ticket.

 

[JediMind]

" It is a tragedy of the world that no one knows what he doesn't know, and less a man knows; the more sure he is that he knows everything".  ---- A great man said it, forgot his name.

See, among other things, Pride is at the root of all these ignorance, arrogance, etc. And the moment someone acts like he knows, he unconsciously closes his mind to advanced knowledge. To the world he  is opinionated, underestimates his opponent, etc.

Why do cynical people see the world as cynical and good people-good? As you believe so shall you live.

 

[Bill Been]

The confidence of amateurs is the envy of professionals.

 

Pavel said or quoted that somewhere in "Easy Strength" I think.

 

[crash123]

you've got to be stupid to believe that only two exercises - deadlift/press or TGU/swings - are enough to build a longterm training program on.  im stupid and lucky  - lucky enough to recognize that "keep it simple stupid" applies to me - the stupid guy - "... so all I have to do is these two exercises and I don't have to think about finding a specific exercise to hit only the medial head of my triceps?" - that is great because I am too stupid to find that exercise.  I have that "I AM WITH STUPID" t-shirt and the finger points right back at me.  pretty stupid, huh?!?