Let Me Ask You a Question

You don’t need to answer

What did you feel when you read that title? Did you feel validated that your opinion matters? Did you feel under confident in your abilities to generate a satisfying answer? Or did you feel any of a million other possible feelings that people experience when engaging with others everyday?

The point is that me asking you a question makes you feel something. It may only exist for a moment and could easily go unnoticed, but there is most likely a natural response. It is the direct consequence of me explicitly engaging with you and not giving an option to remain passive as it so happens in group chats and social media posts these days. There is some kind of power that lies in this idea that makes you confront, whether you would like it or not, your confidence levels on a given topic. It’s the feedback we never asked for.

In an optimized world, humans would incorporate and yearn for every bit of feedback they can get to make progress towards their idea of perfection. This Brave New World may come across as too inhumane to some people but learning from mistakes is the most natural activity for a cognitively aware being. Our brains are wired to take negative feedback more seriously. This makes it our choice whether to use this ability to build passive muscle memory or to make the most out of it to our advantage.

You don’t have to be at the receiving end. In fact, asking questions is an effective way to make rapid progress towards mastery. It is how you fill your gaps in understanding and help others understand theirs. If you don’t ask questions, then you imply that you have achieved mastery. The truth is there is always space for improvement, a space for being creative. After reaching the cutting edge, it is time to push boundaries.

This inquisitive trait, is of course not limited to just academics and professional activities. It extends to social behavior as well. The relationships that work well are initiated on genuine curiosity from either side. If someone is really curious about my experiences and asks me a bunch of questions, I naturally feel that this person is giving me importance and strengthen my sense of purpose, and happiness.

Without questions, society would be static. Only when we begin to appreciate their importance, we would truly be able to harness their power to our advantage.

This whole idea of instant feedback is very interesting to me and I look forward to exploring it more deeply in future stories with personal experiences.