Hypothetics: What's the point?

[SpectacularWebHead]

I've been wondering what the point in any hypothetical situation question, or indeed thread, is. Lets face it, no-one answers them honestly, and even if they did, It's a hypothetical and it's very unlikely to ever happen. So, Hypothetically, can you think of a reason they exist?

 

[DoPo]

Hmm, it could have been aliens.

Although, frankly, I think it's a combination of two reasons 1. It's an excercise in lateral thinking and training your imagination. 2. It's just fun to see what people will come up with, be it honest or not.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

Because hypothetical situations are fun to talk about. Really, no other explanation is needed.

 

[Vegosiux]

I'm going to take a more critical stance here and say, that while there's nothing wrong with hypothetical situations in and of themselves, most of such "thought experiments" I come across on web forums are incredibly poorly thought out, present you with two completely arbitrary options to which I might as well answer "I'd throw a submarine"[footnote]Cookies if you knew I didn't actually mean a real submarine[/footnote] and completely disregard the situation's place in a chain of events.

But a well-thought out hypothetical scenario can prove for some nice mental exercise.

Also, just something being "hypothetical" doesn't make it "very unlikely to ever happen". It's the other way around, people pick a situation that's very unlikely to ever happen and then do a poorly thought out mental experiment with it.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Look, I'm not saying it's aliens...

But it's aliens.


Hypothetical are fun, just, you know don't forget the fun part.

 

[yuval152]

Because it's fun, and it might help you in future situations.

 

[Erja_Perttu]

Because hypothetical situations are fun to talk about. Really, no other explanation is needed.

Because it's fun, and it might help you in future situations.

Exactly! I know what all my friend would do in a hypothetical zombie invasion. The real question is where is the fun in not discussing hypothetical situations and questions?

 

[Esotera]

Hypothetical situations are the foundation of sharing thoughts with others. If we didn't discuss them, then we'd all just be reacting on impulse pretty much.

Although it can get really annoying when its "what would you do in X situation - Y or Z?"

 

[Jonluw]

Hypotheticals are useful tools for establishing what principles people live by.

 

[Fractral]

Its useful for working out someones reaction to something that you don't know how they're going to react to before you actually do it. Although you have to be really sneaky so that they don't work out that what you're hypothetically asking them about is what you're actually planning, based on the answer to your hypothetical question, to do. Alternatively, you could ask them, hypothetically, whether or not they would work out that what you are hypothetically asking them is what you are hypothetically going to do based on whether or not you like the answer to the question, and then you could go ahead with the planned hypothetical question depending on what their answer to your hypothetical question about hypotheticals was.

 

[CleverNickname]

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this thread is incredibly clever. I approve. What's the point, indeed

 

[WoW Killer]

Taking a statement to be true, hypothetically, can allow you to show that it is false. Without an assumption, you cannot explore a statements consequences.

 

[Jedoro]

Thought exercises. While you may not hear someone's true answer to a hypothetical question or situation, the person you asked knows what they think they'd actually do, and has the opportunity to adjust their mindset accordingly.