Why consider the unanswerable?

[Humility]

If a question has no answer, why bother thinking about it or even caring? Lets just look at supposed Media bias for example whether its fox News or one of the other stations.

Now a phrase comes to mind

"Not only is reality unrealistic, but the truth is biased."

This basically means that even the most unbiased network possible will still seem biased to those with different opinions then the facts apparently portrayed and those who share the views portrayed will think it as unbiased. No matter what it is.

So why bother worrying whether or not a station is biased? There is no way to get a definitive answer, neither inductive or deductive logic helps you there. Not unless is ludicrously blatant.

So why bother, why not just stick with worrying about things that can have an inductive or deductive conclusion?

[John Adams]

If a question has no answer, why bother thinking about it or even caring? Lets just look at supposed Media bias for example whether its fox News or one of the other stations.

Now a phrase comes to mind

"Not only is reality unrealistic, but the truth is biased."

This basically means that even the most unbiased network possible will still seem biased to those with different opinions then the facts apparently portrayed and those who share the views portrayed will think it as unbiased. No matter what it is.

So why bother worrying whether or not a station is biased? There is no way to get a definitive answer, neither inductive or deductive logic helps you there. Not unless is ludicrously blatant.

So why bother, why not just stick with worrying about things that can have an inductive or deductive conclusion?

There is a difference between an inductive and/ or deductive conclusion, and a correct inductive and/ or deductive conclusion.

I think people worry about it, because they believe they can arrive at a correct conclusion (correct, not only for themselves, but for the world in general).

~John

[Humility]

You missed the question completelky the question was not

"Why do people worry about the unanswerable"

It was

"Why worry about the unanswerable."

[Fallbreeze]

I think the worry is there, because of the lack of answer. Plus, sometimes, we don't want to face some of the questions that we can answer, because we may not LIKE the answers we got to those.

Then again, sometimes we worry, just because it's there to worry about, and we just can't help ourselves.

[Bree Fletcher]

Fall's right. It does, in a large way, come down to human nature.

But... as far as, can we get a practical benefit from "considering the unanswerable"? Well, I think, even if there's no way we'll figure out what the answer is, it can be worth figuring out what the answer isn't, because we can often get at least that far.

[imnothere]

who gets to deiced the question has no answer?

[Humility]

Not knowing whether or not it has an answer is one thing, but there are plenty of things one knows has no answer, or at least no answer that can be reasoned out or an answer that matters if you can.

Take intelligent life in the universe other then us, Math says it is likely, but also says that even if there was life, it is unlikely we will ever prove it without far greater advances in technology as even our earliest radio waves are barely out of our solar system. And communication is a pipe dream.

So all those people arguing the matter are wasting their time since is doesn't matter either way. Sure, perhaps its useful for certain scientists in the proper fields to debate the matter, as in communication as it matters to how they use their equipment and technologies to a limited extent. (Like if they had a technology that could reconstruct a ten billion year old radio wave, that might have use in this debate.)

But for everyone else? Its a meaningless and unanswerable debate and time better spent on more useful issues such as politics.

[imnothere]

you know for a sci-fi fan such as your self, this sounds ridiculous.
let me give you examples why
"you'll never be able to talk to someone who isnt right in front of you, thinking and dreaming of instant convenient communication is a folly, a waste of time" -pre telephone everyone knew this, and it was pointless to question weather or not there was a better way.
"you dont have wings, you'll never be able to fly like the birds, those idiots who try always end up dieing horrible deaths dashed to pieces on the rocks. give it up, go home, accept that you are as earth bound as the rest of us" -pre flight every one knew we were only the masters of the earth and sea, not the sky.
"sure you can fly across the country, but the sea is too vast, those hurdling death traps will never make it across the ocean" pre trans Atlantic flight...
"we'll never make it to the moon
we'll never make it to mars

the list goes on and on.

why question the questions that have 'no answers'? because thats how they get answers. our curiosity is what drives us into the future. what if no one questioned the ability to communicate only in person? none of us would ever have met, there would be no way, no cause, no drive, no motive, no opportunity.
you blaspheme the sci-fi community you claim to belong to when you say that questioning; the impossible; the improbable; the pointless is a waist of time. Fie on you! for shame that you would turn your back on you mind thus and abandon curiosity to the cold dead hands of 'reason' deductive or inductive. return whence thou came murderer of thought! the power of curiosity compels you to depart or mend thy wicked ways! again i command thee THINK! FEEL! use the brain thou wart endowed with by what ever power saw fit to give thee thought! REPENT! return not to thy vile "reasoning" that destroyer of plausibility the inhibitor of thought! REPENT REPENT!!! lest thou also fall victim to the vacuum of curiosity that destroys the will to live in all who think and feel and create.

[Humility]

I don't belong in the sci fi community. You have me confused with someone else.

[Gnerphk]

Then consider your Thoreau (misquoted).

"You can't make bones from greenstuff; stands to reason. Grass ain't got no bones." This said by the farmer, plowing behind his ox... which is massive, bony, and vegetarian.

Why consider the unanswerable? Because contemplation of those things that are answerable is the function of a simple animal. The unanswerable and its possibilities are what makes us human - right up there with laughter and taxes.

Moreover, I would suggest two practical applications:
- To determine the bias of a media outlet, examine that corporation and its sponsors and producers and editors intimately. Hypothesize likely biases and test using known standards. Allow for one's own bias. Adjust working hypotheses to the results and continue iteratively. Continually examine relative bias to establish a baseline, and convert the news heard accordingly. Do this with (on average) three unique sources and find the arithmetic mean.
- To determine one's own bias, examine oneself in the same way laid out above. Don't forget to consider your own bias as a factor biasing your considerations; a single iteration of this is usually sufficient to determine the statistically significant within an order of magnitude. Iterate continually and test new hypotheses. Knowing one's own bias is the first step.

One need not know in order to posess sufficient information. One need merely suspect, test, and allow for the weighted probability.