Asklemmy @lemmy.ml cheese_greater @lemmy.world 8 mo. ago

Do humans have an inherent tendency to want to answer/respond to questions?

52 comments

No.
- Really?
  
  Psst. That's the joke.
  
  I quickly responded to your question with no, but the only people who would do that are people who really want to answer questions.
  
  In any case, I think you're correct enough for this joke. At least some people really want to answer questions, and I have a questioning 5 yo.
You won't hear from the ones that don't.
Feels like you're just going to get biased answers.
When you're a dad, you have no choice but answer questions all damn day long.
- Damn straight, Pa
- How come?
  
  Can't answer more questions. I'm done
No, I never want to answer a question.
- Is that right? Not even for a ScoobieSnack or a KlondikeBar?
Yes. Variously called an occupational habit or a lowkey OCD one (though you definitely won't hear me say that), questions are akin to a verbal vacuum (and not ironic at all I of all people give this answer, oh no).
- Vacuum is such a good analogy for this :)
  
  cocksure abhors a vacuum
If you have ever seen a police interregation, you may notice the detectives ask a question and then, after either no answer or insufficient answer, they will just look at the suspect expectantly. This is done to put phsycological pressure on the suspect to answer the question. Given this info, I would say so, at least in a face to face situation.

Online, I am not so sure. How many posts did you scroll past in the last week on Lemmy that ask a question that you did not answer? How many did you answer? Even if you answered most, you would be in the minority, as if you were not, we would expect far higher engagement rates on posts.
All humans? No. There are plenty of people who couldn’t care less what you want to know.
- Yup. I work at a huge home improvement store and people think I know the details on every product!
  
  I’ve just started pulling out my phone to ask chatgpt for lots of these questions.
  
  “What kind of spackle should I use on the surface of the moon?”
  
  “Sorry sir we have 50,000 products in this store. I’m gonna ask GPT-4”
- Kinda begs the question what you're doing here, politely :/
  
  Does it? I love answering questions and I answered yours
  
  All humans, no. Some humans, yes. They're obviously part of category B.
I think I do.
- [Prof. Snape] Clearly ;)
  
  'obviously', I tend to correct wrong answers, instead of feeling inclined to answering straight out haha
I'd go with yes, as rising intonation conveys questioning (at least in the languages I somewhat know). We even have a '?' symbol.

In and of itself, all that shows to me that, if not answer, making questions is very much part of our nature!

And questions, such as yours, incite discussion and create cultures. Even if not accurate, myths were a way of answering why we're here and why seasons exist(ed).
you must not have children. theres phase they go through which is nearly all questions
Hey guys, I'm thinking op needs help. Please follow my thread with them.
I think it is trained into us in school where kids are given lots of praise and recognition for providing answers, and kids who stop to think are laughed at.

Also in our media, someone who knows what they’re doing is presented as confident and quick in their responses. We don’t have any images of people saying “Well I’m not sure” and then later being the heroes.

Wisdom is always portrayed as immediately knowing exactly what to do.

I’m hoping that with all the negatives, at least WW3 will force our culture to adopt a more workable model of decision making given our decisions will now be life or death decisions.

You've viewed 52 comments.