I think there was a Freakonomics episode about how important it was to say you don’t know when you don’t know – how we are shamed for not saying it or admitting it. So while the First Clown is about to shame the Second for not knowing the answer to his riddle, it is, in fact, the Second Clown who has been more intelligent in acknowledging what he does not know.
We see this in play in the current political moment wherein the Dumpster in Chief is constantly proclaiming how much he knows when it is stunningly obvious that he is making stuff up.
He’ll say sometimes “A lot of people don’t know X but I know X” and Seth Meyers has pointed out that this usually suggests that X is a thing that the Dumpster only just found out himself moments ago. He would never admit he did not know something – for him, if he doesn’t know it, it doesn’t exist.
Whereas the most intelligent people I know will readily admit when they don’t know something and will also actively search for an answer when they need one.
The Hamlet Project 