The other day, someone did something I didn't expect. It was something many people have done before; something that I thought of as very normal, but that I in no way understood and had not predicted.
As I said, this had happened many time before, so I wrote it off as "me not understanding people" or "people are weird" for a second, like I usually do, before realizing that "bad at" really means "lacking basic knowledge", which I had never realized before.
And then I thought "I should ask someone who is different from me why people do that, and eventually someone will have an answer."
But many people will have many more questions like this. So, what have you observed people doing time and time again, but never understood? Or something that you only understood after a long time or asking someone about it?
And can Less Wrong tell us, not necessarily why (I for one can make up evolutionary psychology fairy tales all day if I want) but what conscious thought process occurs behind these events?
80+% of the time, I'd guess it's to meet or hang out with friends or acquaintances. Bars are this social space where it's totally normal to sit and talk with people for an hour or two.
Depending on the bar, it's usually a great place to get to know people out of your social circle. Being in the bar (and moderately to completely drunk) evens the social disparities and lets you get in touch with people you'll never ever approach in other places. Plus, drunk people do funny things.