Hacker News Reader

Comment by 0_____0 | Hacker News Reader

The author recommends asking people what their favorite of a category is, which is funny, because that category of question (provide superlative from set) stun locks me instantly in conversation, because I feel like I have to provide a defensibly true answer for this subjective question, and I don't index things in sets like that in the first place.

View on HN

I get caught up in this sometimes, trying to pick my Very Most Favorite X, but for most people (who aren’t engineers), they really just want to know “what’s an example of X that you really like?”; it doesn’t have to be so absolute.

In the end, as the author points out, it’s really just fodder for further conversation.

> it’s really just fodder for further conversation

Exactly this.

Just go, "Well, one of my favorite movies is _Avatar_, because..."

A much more useful trick I learnt from Tyler Cowen's podcast is to ask what they think is the most underrated / overrated thing in the category. Everyone understands that the answer is going to be subjective, so there's no pressure to be diplomatic. And in my experience, the answers are also high variance, which leads to more interesting conversations (most people agree that Messi is the greatest of all time, but everyone has a different opinion on who is the most underrated / overrated).

I struggle with this type of question too. "I don't index things in sets like that" is a good way to put it. I hadn't thought about it that way before.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com