Hypotheticals

This article isn't going to go on and on about IQ and how it effects the random individul's ability to deal with Hypotheticals. That has been gone over before ad nauseam and everybody gets mad. "Hur dur, IQ deals with how a person reacts at a given time under a certain set of conditions, hur."

So what I am going to talk about are the various Hypotheticals that I know of and how they work. Additionally, these Hypotheticals are closely related to Inner Monologue and how the normal human brain discusses things with itself to solve problems while NPCs can't function at all.

Introduction

A long time ago, an anonymous online poster discussed Hypothetical Conditions with several other people. This poster explained how various forms of hypothetical thinking were studied by a group who used prison inmates as their subjects. He or she then went on to discuss various notable statistics and a few things that do not need to be discussed here.

Anecdotal Conditionals

In mine line of work, one is continually asked to make hypothetical conditions in order to solve problems. Basing these conditions on experience, a person is able to accurately predict the outcome of a situation. We do this by using memory to construct a "what if?" scenario that attempts to gather all available information and bring about the best outcome for the particular problem.

As an example, I will share a work related issue that was solved by using anecdotal data to imagine the several outcomes that could happen. By avoiding the "bad outcomes" the best solution was obtained:

A very serious water leak was discovered under a mobile home. The first hypothetical conditions that needed to be evaluated by the repair crew were:

• Where is the leak?
• Can the leak be stopped?
• Will the home lose water service?

Once these conditions were assessed, there followed a set of hypothetical solutions without a shovel even touching the ground:

• Where is the leak? - Given past experience with this sort of water leak and visual evidence, an educated guess would say approximately six feet down.
• Can the leak be stopped? - Understanding how the plumbing works here because of past repairs, the leak can be stopped if the correct materials are available.
• Will the home lose water service? - Because I am familiar with this sort of water leak I previously collected the correct repair materials and keep them on hand. Additionally, since I am aware of the depth of the leak and how the plumbing works in this park, I can state that the home will not lose water service.

These initial steps are just the beginning. As each problem is encountered, hypothetical conditions will be mentally discussed by those making the repairs before action is taken.

Because the repair person was able to think in terms of the hypothetical, he or she was able to solve the larger problem of the leak and make the repairs prior to actually digging up the leaking pipes. In the case of repair materials some of these steps were actually done weeks or even months in advance, showing the power of hypothetical conditions and thinking.

But not everyone is able to retain such knowledge or are prevented from obtaining it in the first place. Because of this, they are unable to extrapolate a solution.

For further discussion of this phenomena, please see: NPCs

Examples

Lacking the ability to give hypothetical information when asked a question, the respondant gives an answer that is irrelevant but loosely touches on the subject.

Below, you will find the various hypothetical conditions along with a brief example.

Conditional Time

In the original example, somebody asked somebody about laptops and nazis. Without the data here in front of me, I reject that example as being made up. Nobody could be that stupid.