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Comment by jakejake | Hacker News Reader

The fear of looking stupid is probably what stops most people from ever doing anything interesting.

I do see an occasional startup fumblebrag and think to myself "that was a stupid idea." But I rarely think anybody is stupid for trying.

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> "If you don't want to do something stupid, you probably don't want to have higher expectations of your abilities than you should," Balazs said. "The worst thing someone can do is act confidently, and seriously, and still not act rationally. That's as stupid as it gets."

That, in my opinion, is totally stupid ;)

It's hard to assess ones abilities without risk of looking stupid. But of course, one must hedge the bet prudently.

Indeed.

If ALL we're interested in is what others /think/ of us, then by all means let's hedge our bets in that regard. If looking stupid however is a byproduct of a longer journey to achieving something, then who cares what others think about our intelligence or our paraded stupidity.

But if looking stupid affects our chances of achieving what we set out to achieve, then we should be more circumspect before acting.

I think there's a difference between the fear you speak of and modesty. I can be modest and not have a fear of looking stupid. I just refrain from being stupid through modesty. When it matters I take risks and may be considered stupid, but as you say not stupid for trying.

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