Meta: One problem with this thread is that it immediately frames all questions as “stupid”. I’m not sure questions should be approached from the perspective of “This point must be wrong since the Sequences are right. How is this point wrong?” Some of the questions might be insightful. Can we take “stupid” out of it?
I think taking the stupid out would make it worse. Making it a stupid questions thread makes it a safe space to ask questions that FEEL stupid to the asker.The point of this thread isn’t to enable important critiques of the sequences, it’s to make it easier to ask questions when they feel like everyone else already acts like they know the answer or something. There can be other venues for actual critiques or serious questions about how accurate the sequences are.
“Uh...stupid question?” is a fairly common way of introducing a question that doesn’t seem to have been addressed, but to which everyone else seems to take the answer for granted. It doesn’t presuppose the correctness of the material being questioned. It’s a diplomatic way of saying “either you’ve not explained this properly, or I’ve missed something”.
I would rather keep it as “stupid questions” (a known turn of phrase referring to this specific circumstance, which is how it’s used), rather than something more awkward yet marginally less ambiguous.
Meta: One problem with this thread is that it immediately frames all questions as “stupid”. I’m not sure questions should be approached from the perspective of “This point must be wrong since the Sequences are right. How is this point wrong?” Some of the questions might be insightful. Can we take “stupid” out of it?
I think taking the stupid out would make it worse. Making it a stupid questions thread makes it a safe space to ask questions that FEEL stupid to the asker.The point of this thread isn’t to enable important critiques of the sequences, it’s to make it easier to ask questions when they feel like everyone else already acts like they know the answer or something. There can be other venues for actual critiques or serious questions about how accurate the sequences are.
“Basic questions”, “background questions”, “simple questions” or even “Explain Like I’m Five” would all get the point across without “stupid”.
“Simple question” makes you wonder whether your question is simple.
“Uh...stupid question?” is a fairly common way of introducing a question that doesn’t seem to have been addressed, but to which everyone else seems to take the answer for granted. It doesn’t presuppose the correctness of the material being questioned. It’s a diplomatic way of saying “either you’ve not explained this properly, or I’ve missed something”.
I would rather keep it as “stupid questions” (a known turn of phrase referring to this specific circumstance, which is how it’s used), rather than something more awkward yet marginally less ambiguous.