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" if you never speak it because you're afraid to say something wrong, you'll never learn" If you're afraid to say your idea because you know (or suspect) that
by injb 7y ago
" if you never speak it because you're afraid to say something wrong, you'll never learn"
If you're afraid to say your idea because you know (or suspect) that it's wrong, then you have already learned the hardest part of the lesson. Of course, it still remains to find out what the right idea is, but voicing one that you know to be wrong is hardly going to help with that.
- illvm 7y agoThis isn't always true, though. History of full of examples of people returning to "wrong" ideas only to find them not wrong at all.
- friendlybus 7y agoHitting the ball wrong in tennis can be answered by the high school kid with one technique, and by Novak Djokovic with another technique. Novak will have a far more complete, in depth and transcendent answer than someone else, but both are "correct" in that they solve the problem of hitting the ball wrong. Knowing you're wrong is the threshold guardian to the adventure of hitting the mark correctly. I don't know how you embark on that journey without voicing it multiple times to multiple people.
- Swizec 7y agoBest way to learn on the internet is to give the wrong answer and get corrected
- injb 7y agoThat's the best way if you don't know that you're wrong, sure. If you do know, why not just ask what the right answer is?
- jodrellblank 7y ago> why not just ask what the right answer is? “RTFM” “Nobody’s going to do your homework for you” “whathaveyoutried.com”
- TimPC 7y agoRobert Morris's solution is wrong for most of us about casual conversation because it's valuable to be wrong sometimes. But in terms of deciding which essays you publish it seems quite valuable. Out of all the media I produce from conversation, to video, to casual writing, to essays, essays are the ones I least want to be wrong in. Also, the process of refining an idea is a valid one. Barring topics on which you are an ideologue, seldom are you so wrong about an idea that you think it's perfectly correct and nothing bothers you or makes you question it through many edits.
- injb 7y ago"Robert Morris's solution is wrong for most of us about casual conversation because it's valuable to be wrong sometimes". I don't think this is quite right. Of course I don't know RM, but given PG's characterization of him, there's nothing to indicate that he never asks when he's unsure about something. PG only says that he never offers an opinion when he's unsure. I doubt that this interferes with learning. Saying something that's wrong to provoke a correction is not the only way to get the right answer. In fact I doubt that it's the best way, or even a good way . Many of us have learned the hard way that when someone says something wrong, they're not always interested in being corrected. Instead, if you want the right answer, you can always just ask, which doesn't involve being wrong, and makes it clear that you are ready to be instructed.