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Kobayashi comments on High Status and Stupidity: Why? - Less Wrong
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I can think of at least two high status individuals I've met in the corporate world that displayed a wide range of intelligence depending on their audience.
To some people they would be very direct, ask the right questions, give the right advice, and be generally intelligent.
To others they would display less competence, ask obvious or stupid questions, and generally seem less intelligent.
I always supposed the latter cases were either:
A display of "Such minor details are of no concern to me; I will play dumb to assert my status"
"Let's see who will challenge me when I say something stupid, and then I'll know who the smart/bold ones are in this group"
What is actually said, word choice, etc. should never be assumed to be 100 % indicative of the speaker's actual motivations in asking a question or making a statement. I play dumb all the time, for a variety of reasons. The majority of those reasons have to do with making the other person comfortable and/or seeking information that would otherwise not come my way.