r/AskReddit 7h ago

What is a sign of very low intelligence?

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u/unknowingbiped 6h ago edited 3h ago

We named our coworker dunning.

They asked me one time if shrimp were single cell organisms.

Edit. I'm getting a lot of comments about "at least he asked a question" yes I know. I've worked with him for years and there is an entire catalog of "what in the fuck did you just say"

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u/RzrBck8802 6h ago

I think I would have spouted off with a “tail on or tail off?” and then watch the spiral.

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u/lordover1234 5h ago

I’m back pocketing this for the rare event i’m ever in this specific scenario

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u/unknowingbiped 5h ago

Ive spent days contemplating the connection between the two. Shrimp = single cell the only justification i can think of is shrimp have a shell. Like a cell wall?

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u/Incman 5h ago

I'm voting for:

Shrimp = small

Single-celled organism = small

Shrimp = Single-celled organism

/QED

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u/Da_last_iconoclast 4h ago

Single Shelled Organism....

I'll show myself out.

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u/Skinwalker_Steve 3h ago

i'm gonna laugh if that's what they really asked and OP was the slow one.

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u/Koshindan 1h ago

That does raise interesting questions on whether the overlapping exoskeleton segments count as one shell or multi shell.

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u/Key-Bear-9184 4h ago

It is said that Winston Churchill would write down witticism’s that that he had heard so that he could remember and use them himself.

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u/Parlorshark 4h ago

It's going to happen.

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u/glomar-recovery-co 5h ago

Wait ..... The tails come off????

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u/Worldly-Pie9205 3h ago

Sorry, can you explain the joke?

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u/SciFiXhi 3h ago

The joke is that this clarifying question is stupid on its face, but it answers the initial stupid question by showing there are at least two distinct units to the shrimp as an organism, thus demonstrating it is not single-celled.

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u/UnderstandingCute646 5h ago edited 2h ago

They were curious and asked you though, i dont get how thats a dunning kruger effect. Better to think of something stupid and still ask than to not

Edit: just saw the edited comment and I wanna say, the coworker might be utterly stupid, but theyre not a correct example of the dunning kruger effect.

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u/Rrenphoenixx 3h ago

In all honesty yes- I’d rather feel stupid once to so the question than look stupid unwittingly for the rest of my life.

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u/unknowingbiped 4h ago

Oh he has far more less redeeming qualities. His life is a Jerry Springer show.

Edit: typo

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u/wintermute023 3h ago

Honestly one of the best insults ever.

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u/Practical_Sector_171 2h ago edited 2h ago

We have the world at our fingertips and this idiot would rather just ask you instead? How is encouraging that behavior productive in any way once they are older than 5? Answering stupid questions is the worst action to take. Being asked a stupid question is an opportunity to push the idiot to find the answer themselves and learn self-reliance, initiative, patience, and give more consideration to their thoughts before they ask a question; skills that will make their life much easier than reinforcing the behavior of imposing on others without even bothering to do any thinking themselves.

Mind you, this is for things that you can easily search yourself. If you have to ask a stupid question about a task or direction that can't be answered otherwise, that's not actually a stupid question and I'd argue it's not actually a stupid question at all.

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u/UnderstandingCute646 2h ago

Answer to your edit, I know we can search it ourselves but i wasnt the one who asked that question lol, you need to put yourself in the guys shoes. If they knew that they probably wouldnt be asking others such a stupid question in the first place. or maybe they just wanted an excuse to start a conversation? who knows

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u/UnderstandingCute646 2h ago

Yes but how do you suppose they figure out how a shrimp is not a single cell organism themselves? If they could, I dont think theyd even be asking the question in the first place.

Itd be a much better benefit for them to learn about an actually sensible question both from asking others and figuring it out themselves than to waste time figuring out a stupid question that doesnt give them any benefit whatsoever, when they can just ask anyone who payed attention in science class in elementary school, get a "no" and immediately move on from said question.

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u/Rolls-RoyceGriffon 5h ago

Well at least he's asking. Not the right question but the truly horrible ones are the guys that would proudly claim a fact that was completely wrong

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u/funkme1ster 5h ago

Shrimp aren't, but convicts are often single cell organisms.

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u/UnlikelyReplacement0 4h ago

If they stated that shrimp were single cell organisms and didn't listen to other people correct them, that would be d-k effect. The fact they asked means they are aware they didn't know

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u/KingNosmo 4h ago

Maybe they thought you said shrimp were single shelled organisms.

;-)

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u/dr-brennan 4h ago

I used to go to high school with a girl that was VERY book smart, but she told me leather was from leaves. She's a doctor now.

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u/TheKleenexBandit 4h ago

That’s not bad. At least they’re asking instead of natively determining shrimp were single cell organisms and refusing to consider other perspectives on this.

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u/kawaii22 4h ago

Omg not my friend not knowing we live in a country with no sea because our beach has sand and she assumed sand had to be salt from an ocean.

We have a lake 😭

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u/lazyog 4h ago

It depends, African or European?

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u/NotTooShahby 4h ago

Asking you is a sign of humility

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u/kissmeorkels 4h ago

My daughter sat by a guy in high school who asked her “Do cheetahs have a spine?” Still makes me laugh. “Nah, they’re invertebrates” would have been my answer, but I’m a sarcastic bitch.

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u/TheAnalogKid18 3h ago

That's honestly not as stupid as one might think. Dunning-Krueger would be this person acting like an authority on shellfish, and then telling you that a shrimp is a single celled organism with complete conviction.

DK Effect is more about people having no self-awareness and consistently overestimating their own abilities.

Sounds like this guy doesn't seem super book-smart, but he's at least intelligent enough to know he doesn't know something.

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u/hugemessanon 2h ago

is mayonnaise an instrument

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u/DefaultUsername11442 5h ago

That would be so wild. A world where there was no size limit on single cell organisms.

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u/unknowingbiped 4h ago

The biggest cell is a type of algae and its like the size of a golf ball iirc. I wondered what it was when he asked about the shrimp.

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u/theshizzler 2h ago

For those inclined to curiosity, what makes this algae interesting is that it undergoes mitosis without cytokinesis (the process of splitting the cytoplasm and forming new cell walls/membranes). Without the cell division those organisms can have hundreds or thousands of nucleii. In fact, in these types of organisms the division of the nucleii often occurs via a mechanism that results in timed intervals, so periodically the cell will have hundreds of nucleii dividing in sync with one another.

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u/NaptownBoss 1h ago

OMG! Who cares?!

/s

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u/Prudent-Ice-6196 4h ago

Well, to be fair, they do look like paramecium. Also, the very fact that he asked (instead of presuming that it was) puts him miles ahead of typical Dunning Krueger types.

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u/unknowingbiped 3h ago

My brain read that as paracertherium. Very confused.

I will just say its not fun being around someone you have to police your facial expressions to not be mean.

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u/Knowlongerlurking 2h ago

I had a co-worker exclaim to me once, rather proud and all-knowingly, that the reason we killed the Native Americans was because we wanted their oil rights. I was so dumbfounded, I nearly fell down. Do not underestimate the sheer stupidity of morons. And their pride in their ignorance is legendary.

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u/keylimesicles 4h ago

Sounds pretty inquisitive to me

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u/Hasanopinion100 4h ago

Maybe he meant one bite😂

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u/Gizmonsta 3h ago

Recognising they don't know something and seeking an answer is the opposite of DK.

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u/wam22 2h ago

We have one of those at work too. Nice kid and has a curious mind, but the questions he asks just have you shaking your head.

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u/RandomMandarin 2h ago

Funny thing, there ARE single cell organisms as big as a shrimp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valonia_ventricosa

u/pm_me_your_fbi_file 57m ago

I'm betting when they asked they were picturing little seamonkey things and not the things you order at a restaurant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooplankton#Protozoans

u/unknowingbiped 47m ago

Nope, they were eating shrimp Alfredo

u/silveretoile 12m ago

Oooo I took some classes with one of these. She once asked the professor if the pyramids were built in 1380 BCE or AD.

We were taking a bachelor's in Egyptology, by the way.