If pay is based on performance, the guy asking the "stupid" questions is going to be the one making progress while the colleages who stay ignorant are going to

If pay is based on performance, the guy asking the "stupid" questions is going to be the one making progress while the colleages who stay ignorant are going to fall behind. In the end, it isn't that the questions are stupid, it's the the asker is afraid of asking key/necessary questions for fear of looking stupid. Falling back to the skiing anology; the guy who never wipes out never gets very good either.