I’ve thought about this before and concluded that it’s because HN/other sites are somewhat hostile to the approach of beginner’s mind, admitting you know nothin

I’ve thought about this before and concluded that it’s because HN/other sites are somewhat hostile to the approach of beginner’s mind, admitting you know nothing but want to learn more, etc. Asking basic questions tends to get you ridiculed or downvoted, and most subreddits have onerous lists of rules you have to follow before asking anything. YouTube and TikTok also incentivize acting like someone that has no doubts and is completely certain that they’re right. I suppose that dynamic isn’t hugely different from a typical in-person social situation (e.g., a classroom where kids are afraid to look stupid by asking questions) but it would be cool if a social platform incentivized people to ask “dumb” questions they are curious about. At this point though, ChatGPT is basically fulfilling this function for me, and its lack of judgement is refreshing compared to the typical Ask subreddit.