That was a really good humble brag, I have to say.

I'm Angela Duckworth.

I'm Stephen Dubner.

And you're listening to No Stupid Questions.

Today on the show, do checklists make people stupid?

Do schoolwork hate parents?

Go out with friends hate parents.

Also, given the state of the pandemic, is it time to give up on cities?

People are decamping out to, if I might say it, the burbs.

Angela Duckworth, our question today comes from a listener named Chris Shipman.

I work at a place that thrives on process,

Chris writes. Thrives is in quotes, which I guess connotes irony and suggests that this

workplace doesn't actually thrive. So anyway, Chris goes on, but I feel like checklists deaden

critical thinking. That brings us to Chris's actual question. like checklists deaden critical thinking.

That brings us to Chris's actual question.

Do checklists make people more stupid?

So, Angela, I like this question because it is a specific procedural question, but it's got

much broader implications if you want to go there.

So do you want to go there?

I want to go there.

I've been thinking about checklists, actually, long before Chris Shipman sent us that question. I read Atoll Gawande's

checklist manifesto. Great book. Right? It just is. Even if you'd think it wouldn't appeal,

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