Social Question

Outthere's avatar

Why do you recommend things to other people?

Asked by Outthere (84points) March 23rd, 2017 from iPhone

Why do people care to make a recommendation to others?

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

18 Answers

chyna's avatar

I want others to enjoy something that I enjoyed whether it be food, a restaurant, a book or a movie.

BellaB's avatar

So people won’t make the same mistakes I have.

MrGrimm888's avatar

Not sure. I suppose it’s human nature , to “spread the word” about something.

We’re a social species. We need others to thrive, so we can have others to talk to, trade with, procreate with, learn from, etc.

Giving someone some potentially helpful advice, isn’t just altruistic. It could be of benefit to the whole species. Like telling a passing group , in the desert, where some water is.

Earthbound_Misfit's avatar

If I find a great restaurant, hotel or something or I watch a fabulous film, I want to let people know. I read other people’s reviews to find new places to eat, or when I choose somewhere to stay. When I’m in a new city, it helps me to identify places I might like to go or that I would prefer to stay away from. So I try to reciprocate to help others.

CWOTUS's avatar

I recommend things to others – and attempt to learn what I can for myself, when I find something that interests me* – because that’s how humans have gotten to where we are now.

I had a realization some time ago that there’s very little difference between humans “now” and humans of the Stone Age. That is, except for the relatively slight and in some cases not even detectable biological / evolutionary differences between a baby born today and one born to human parents, say, a quarter-million years ago on the African savanna – the babies are the same. They share the same total ignorance about the world – and they also share the same capacity for learning. It’s an exciting thought.

Think about that for a moment, and think of the implications. Because along with “the children being the same” … so is “the world”. Except for the vagaries of nature, rising and falling sea levels, slight continental drift (and the structures that have come and gone since a quarter-million years ago), this is the same world first inhabited by humans. The elements are all the same, and for the most part so are most of the other animals and plants. Everything that we have now, including the computer I’m using to compose this essay and whatever device you’re using to read it, it all could have existed a quarter-million years ago. The reason it didn’t exist then, obviously, is “the missing ideas and discoveries” that have intervened in the meantime. That is: all of human creation, all of that learning that our Stone Age babies can now be exposed to.

- Language and the use of words to mean objects and concepts;
– Numbers and counting;
– The manipulation of symbols to represent shared ideas,
– And every single bit of human inventiveness, creativity, art and imagination that has occurred between then and now (and which has been recorded, comprehended and passed down to subsequent generations in whatever form: painting, writing in books, oral traditions of storytelling, and these days film, video and digital media) – and not to mention the innovations and ideas that build on other experiences and ideas that we’ve been exposed to – are what set us apart from those Stone Age ancestors.

Since our babies are exactly equal to those ancient babies, in a real sense we ourselves are exactly equal to those ancient people, except that we’ve had the benefit of exposure to more new things, more knowledge that wasn’t available to them, and which had to be hard-won over millennia.

Isaac Newton was remarked to have said that “If I see farther than others have seen, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants.” He might as well have said, “I stand on … piles and piles of books.” Even “learning how to learn” is something that we haven’t mastered yet! But look what we know, despite our many handicaps. And there is so much more to know and discover.

So, you may think, “Big deal. We’re no longer living in the Stone Age. Who cares how little they understood of their world a quarter-million years ago?” And if you take that short-sighted view in only that backwards direction, then that’s an apt observation, as far as it goes.

But where might we be in another few years in the future (or the next quarter-million, if you want to take the longer view) as we learn more now that we don’t know yet? Who’s to say that we can’t learn the next quarter-million years’ worth of human knowledge in the next twenty, if only we could accelerate the process? That’s pretty exciting. I want all of my Stone Age babies of the present to start to learn more, faster and deeper. So I try to share.

Well, that, of course, and videos of cute puppies and kittens. Everybody likes puppies and kitties.

* Rather, “When I find something that makes me want to stop doing everything else that interests me to focus on one thing in particular”, because there is so much of interest to me.

kritiper's avatar

I am a lifelong Boy Scout and I enjoy helping others.

cazzie's avatar

I have to know the other person or the other person has to ask a question or express an interest for me to recommend something to them. I learned through weird and awkward social interaction that stuff I’m interested in is mostly weird to other people and people make fun of or discount my opinion later. It’s better, in most situations, to smile and talk about the weather.

johnpowell's avatar

You wouldn’t care about people recommending things if you had a Bakers Edge.

I make a lot of lasagna. And I love the crunchy edge parts. Bakers Edge makes every piece a edge. It has changed my life.

I’m not joking… I fucking love this thing.

zenvelo's avatar

I make recommendations when people ask for one. If I have a good experience somewhere, I will talk about it, but that is not an unsolicited recommendation.

But we ask each other at work for recommendations and thoughts on all kinds of things, from hiking trails to sandwiches to movies to hotels and restaurants,

ragingloli's avatar

To validate your own preferences by forcing them on others, because you want to belong to “the group”.

JLeslie's avatar

If something helped me, I’m happy to share that information to help someone else. Why? Partly because others have done the same for me. It’s part of paying it forward, which I believe truly makes the world a better place.

canidmajor's avatar

@johnpowell, I have a thing sort of like that for brownies so every one has that crunchy edge…I so get it! :-D

JLeslie's avatar

Lol. I have a baker’s edge pan.

Kardamom's avatar

If I find something that I like, that works well, or tastes good, or is useful, whether it is a restaurant, a recipe, a service, or a service provider like a dentist, I want to share the good stuff with other people that I care about, and if it’s an online review, I want to share it with people that are looking for these things.

I would hope that other people would do the same for me.

Outthere's avatar

@chyna Why do you think you want that?

Outthere's avatar

@kritiper why do you enjoy helping others?

chyna's avatar

@Outthere Because I appreciate when others share places or food or books, etc. with me that they hope I will enjoy as much as they did.

canidmajor's avatar

Because sharing experiences and likes and dislikes is a very basic part of being a human community, and being part of a community is the key to survival.

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