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1/ The right time to ask sanity-check questions about node n on a thought trail is when you've already explored tree about n+6 levels deep
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2/ Value of what you find in the (n+1, n+6) exploration depths is what justifies the effort devoted to sanity-checking level n, to derisk
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3/ However, there is a risk: people at n+1 or beyond levels who don't know you will think you're being naive with your questions
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4/ People who know you will suspect you of being disingenuous in asking a seemingly unsophisticated basic question, like you're trolling
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5/ But it's a good way to filter for people you can truly think well with, because they'll sense where you're going without explicit flags
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6/ More sociopathically, it's a good way to filter out people who're stalled at say level n+1 or n+2 by their responses. A shibboleth effect
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7/ More sociably, it is improvised dog-whistling to discover others who are also on same trail but also don't want to show their hand yet
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8/ This is pure 20-20 hindsight. I defaulted into this mode of interaction, especially in public places like Twitter as a filter strategy
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10/ Allows you to have your public cake and eat your private one too. It's a big part of stream smarts I think, and I see many doing it
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11/ Aside, this is the opposite of fake-it-till-you-make-it. Instead of embellishing reputation to gain learning opps, you tarnish it a bit
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