Ask culture is actually kind of a fantastical achievement in human history, given the degree to which humans are social animals and our minds are constantly processing social consequences. Getting people to just say what they’re thinking, without considering the impact of their words on other people’s feelings, how is that even possible?
This seems to be a function of predictability. I think ask culture developed (to some extent) in America due to the ‘melting pot’ nature of America. This meant that you couldn’t reliably predict how your ask would ‘echo’, and so you might as well just ask directly.
On the other hand, in somewhere like Japan where you not only have a very homogenous population, but also have a culture which specifically values conformity, then it becomes possible to reliably predict something like 4+ echos. And whatever is possible is what the culture tends toward, since you can improve your relative value to others by tracking more echos in a Red Queen’s Race. (It seems like this can be stopped if the culture takes pride in being an Ask culture, maybe Israeli culture is a good example here, though it is still kind of a melting pot.)
You can see the same sort of dynamic play out in the urban vs rural divide, e.g. New Yorkers are ‘rude’ and ‘blunt’, while small towns are ‘friendly’ and ‘charming’… if you’re a predictable person to them, that is.
My guess is that the ideal is something like a default Ask culture with specific Guess culture contexts when it genuinely is worth the extra consideration. Maybe when commenting on effortposts, for example.
This seems to be a function of predictability. I think ask culture developed (to some extent) in America due to the ‘melting pot’ nature of America. This meant that you couldn’t reliably predict how your ask would ‘echo’, and so you might as well just ask directly.
On the other hand, in somewhere like Japan where you not only have a very homogenous population, but also have a culture which specifically values conformity, then it becomes possible to reliably predict something like 4+ echos. And whatever is possible is what the culture tends toward, since you can improve your relative value to others by tracking more echos in a Red Queen’s Race. (It seems like this can be stopped if the culture takes pride in being an Ask culture, maybe Israeli culture is a good example here, though it is still kind of a melting pot.)
You can see the same sort of dynamic play out in the urban vs rural divide, e.g. New Yorkers are ‘rude’ and ‘blunt’, while small towns are ‘friendly’ and ‘charming’… if you’re a predictable person to them, that is.
My guess is that the ideal is something like a default Ask culture with specific Guess culture contexts when it genuinely is worth the extra consideration. Maybe when commenting on effortposts, for example.