Comment by Nevermark

> You don't get honest answers without reading between the lines in these situations.

Yes, there is an art to asking people who seem to have non-sensical viewpoints to explain the reasoning behind those viewpoints.

The less apparently sensible their viewpoint is, the more likely something interesting is happening. They may have a disconnect between their conscious reasoning vs. actual reasoning, or there is communication impedance mismatch, or they have non-obvious assumptions they haven't made explicit, etc.

Their real reasoning often reveals something important (they may actually be right, they have a different communication style worth becoming aware of, they are interpreting things from a very different experience/wisdom base, ...), but it often takes patience and creativity to tease out.

And it can be a challenge to avoid coming on too strong, i.e. appearing judgmental, in a conversation whose premise is genuinely "WTF are you thinking?"