评论
打印
People generally fear being perceived as stupid. Often, stupid people are looked down upon and laughed at. Society perceives stupid people as useless, as a burden rather than an asset.
人们通常害怕被视为愚蠢。愚蠢的人常常被人瞧不起和嘲笑。社会认为愚蠢的人是无用的，是一种负担而不是资产。
Hence, most of us try to prevent ourselves from appearing stupid in front of co-workers, fellow students, family members, and friends.
因此，我们大多数人都试图避免在同事、同学、家人和朋友面前表现出愚蠢。
And sometimes, we try to appear much smarter than we are, just so people hold us in high esteem – just so people won't think of us as stupid.
有时，我们试图表现得比实际聪明得多，只是为了让人们尊敬我们——只是为了让人们不会认为我们愚蠢。
We attach much importance to what other people think about us, how they see us, and their opinions.
我们非常重视别人对我们的看法、他们如何看待我们以及他们的观点。
Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer put it like this at the start of his work The Wisdom of Life:
哲学家亚瑟·叔本华在他的著作《人生的智慧》的开头这样说道：
By a peculiar weakness of human nature, people generally think too much about the opinion which others form of them;
由于人性的一个特殊弱点，人们通常会过多考虑别人对他们的看法；
although the slightest reflection will show that this opinion, whatever it may be, is not in itself essential to happiness.
尽管稍加思考就会发现，这种看法，无论它是什么，本身并不是幸福的必要条件。
Therefore it is hard to understand why everybody feels so very pleased when he sees that other people have a good opinion of him, or say anything flattering to his vanity. End quote.
因此，很难理解为什么每个人看到别人对自己有好感，或者说一些奉承自己虚荣心的话时，都会感到如此高兴。
Most of the time, we can't help it. We want people to like us, like cats that want to be stroked. We don't want them to think we're dumb.
大多数时候，我们无法控制自己。我们希望人们喜欢我们，就像猫想要被抚摸一样。我们不想让他们认为我们很笨。
But because we emphasize what other people think of us so much, we might forget what truly benefits us.
但是，因为我们太过强调别人对我们的看法，我们可能会忘记什么才是真正对我们有益的。
And sometimes, it works to our advantage when people don't hold us in high esteem.
有时，当人们不尊重我们时，这对我们有利。
Sometimes, being stupid or perceived as stupid is better for our well-being than being seen as intelligent.
有时，愚蠢或被视为愚蠢比被视为聪明更有利于我们的幸福。
But to enjoy the benefits of stupidity, we must set aside our desire to be liked. We must be willing to be seen as 'the fool' to get ahead.
但要享受愚蠢的好处，我们必须放下被人喜欢的欲望。我们必须愿意被视为“傻瓜”才能出人头地。
Undoubtedly, there's a difference between 'acting' stupid and actually 'being' stupid. Both have benefits, and the examples in this piece apply to both.
毫无疑问，“装傻”和“真的”愚蠢是有区别的。两者都有好处，本文中的例子也适用于两者。
This video explores the power of stupidity, the blessing of being a moron, the elegance of idiocy, and why being a fool pays.
这段视频探讨了愚蠢的力量、做傻瓜的好处、愚蠢的优雅以及为什么做傻瓜会有好处。
For those who love reading, Einzelganger just released a new compilation book: Loose, Letting Stuff Go, which contains a selection of essays revised and edited for print, exploring ways to let go of the many attachments of daily life.
对于那些热爱阅读的人来说，Einzelganger刚刚发布了一本新书：Loose, Letting Stuff Go，其中包含一系列经过修订和编辑以供印刷的文章，探讨了如何摆脱日常生活中的许多依恋。
Loose is available on Amazon as a paperback and ebook. Links below.
Loose在亚马逊上有平装本和电子书。链接如下。
(1) People don't expect much of you. "Appear weak when you are strong," wrote ancient military strategist Sun Tzu in his work The Art of War.
(1) 人们对你期望不高，古代军事战略家孙子在他的作品《孙子兵法》中写道“赢者示弱”。
If someone appears weaker than he is, people will underestimate him, which could be a strategic advantage.
如果某人看起来比他弱，人们就会低估他，这可能是一个战略优势。
But does this also apply to stupidity and intelligence? Is it wise to appear stupid when you are smart?
但这是否也适用于愚蠢和智慧？当你聪明时显蠢是明智的吗？
Consider the character of Yoda, a powerful Jedi in the Star Wars movies who acts like an old, primitive, but curious fool, living in obscurity on the swamp-covered planet of Dagobah, when he meets Luke Skywalker for the first time.
想想《星球大战》电影中强大的绝地武士尤达，当他第一次遇到卢克·天行者时，他表现得像一个年老、原始但好奇的傻瓜，在沼泽覆盖的达戈巴星球上默默无闻。
We later find out that his facade was a way of learning about Luke's character and morals. Is he impatient? Is he kind?
我们后来发现，他的伪装是了解卢克性格和道德的一种方式。他不耐烦吗？他善良吗？
Is the dark side strong in him, as is the case with his father, Anakin, or does he lean more toward the light side?
他身上的黑暗面很强，就像他的父亲阿纳金一样，还是他更倾向于光明面？
Acting stupid can reveal a lot about someone's character, which is a strategic advantage, more so because we obtain information about them while leaving ourselves in the dark.
装傻可以揭示一个人的很多性格特征，这是一种战略优势，更重要的是，我们获得了关于他们的信息，而自己却被蒙在鼓里。
When people perceive us as less than we are, they might let their guard down, overshare, and don't see us as a threat, as they underestimate our capabilities.
当人们低估我们时，他们可能会放松警惕，过度分享，不把我们看作威胁，因为他们低估了我们的能力。
They will not perceive us as competition, either. Of course, acting stupid is a form of manipulation and might conflict with one's morality, especially if we use it to cause harm.
他们也不会把我们看作竞争对手。当然，装傻是一种操纵，可能与一个人的道德相冲突，尤其是当我们用它来造成伤害的时候。
When playing dumb, people might also underestimate your capacity for evil and be more forgiving of mistakes.
当你装傻时，人们可能也会低估你的作恶能力，对错误更加宽容。
For example, in Japan, a collectivist nation with strict social standards, its citizens are expected to conform to many rules and etiquette.
例如，在日本，一个有着严格社会标准的集体主义国家，其公民需要遵守许多规则和礼仪。
Hence, Japanese people are generally concerned with other people's opinions and anxious about falling by the wayside.
因此，日本人普遍关心别人的看法，担心被淘汰。
During COVID, for example, even after the point masks weren't mandatory anymore, the majority still wore them (and still do at the time this video is published), mainly to not stand out from the crowd and be frowned upon by other Japanese people.
例如，在新冠疫情期间，即使在不再强制戴口罩之后，大多数人仍然戴着口罩（在发布此视频时仍然如此），主要是为了不显得鹤立鸡群，不被其他日本人皱眉。
However, when you're a foreigner in Japan, the Japanese tend to be much more forgiving about not conforming to the standard, as the foreigner is most likely oblivious to the local conventions of a strange country.
然而，当你是在日本的外国人时，日本人往往会对不遵守标准的行为更加宽容，因为外国人很可能对陌生国家的当地习俗一无所知。
Hence, we could say by analogy that the fool gets a pass in many situations in which the smart person doesn't: a fool most likely didn't do it on purpose; he simply didn't know any better.
因此，我们可以类比地说，在很多情况下，傻瓜可以逍遥法外，而聪明人却不能：傻瓜很可能不是故意的；他只是不知道该怎么做。
(2) A different perspective. When we're too set in our ways and thinking patterns, or when we're highly skilled and experienced, we might suffer from a limited perspective.
(2) 不同的视角。当我们过于固守自己的思维方式，或者当我们技能高超、经验丰富时，我们可能会受到视角局限的影响。
Because of this limited perspective, we tend to be blind to much-needed solutions that help us further.
由于这种视角局限，我们往往会对那些能进一步帮助我们的急需的解决方案视而不见。
An article in Psychology Today, written by senior scientist Gary Klein, explains how being stupid can prevent mistakes from happening.
《今日心理学》杂志上有一篇由资深科学家加里·克莱因（Gary Klein）撰写的文章，解释了愚蠢如何能防止错误发生。
He tells a story about an experienced employee in a petrochemical plant who couldn't imagine the mistakes that novices would make, errors that would cause a shutdown, and even dangerous situations.
他讲述了一个石化工厂的资深员工的故事，这位员工无法想象新手会犯的错误、会导致停工的错误，甚至危险的情况。
He only looked at his work from his perspective after many years of experience. Still, this employee was responsible for training novices.
他只是从自己多年经验的角度看待工作。尽管如此，这位员工还是负责培训新手。
How could he train them successfully when he couldn't take their perspective?
如果他不能站在新手的角度，他怎么能成功地培训他们呢？
I quote: And that's when I began to think about the advantages of being stupid — being able to strip away experience and knowledge and see the world through the eyes of a beginner or of anyone making stupid mistakes.
从那时起，我开始思考愚蠢的好处——能够抛开经验和知识，通过初学者或任何犯愚蠢错误的人的眼睛看世界。
