Questions That Cannot Be Answered
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Top 23 Questions That Cannot Be Answered

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The main reason why we ask questions is to get answers to some of the things we’re curious about. Over the years, humanity has asked a lot of questions and we’ve found answers that are just enough to satisfy our curiosity.

However, the discovery of answers to certain questions doesn’t rule out the fact that some questions are just impossible to answer. It may sound absurd, especially after I listed “getting answers” as the most important reason why we ask questions.

If you’re looking to be amazed, you may want to check out some of the popular questions that we will never get answers to. In this article, I’ll list some top questions that cannot be answered, but before then, it’s crucial to look at why some questions cannot be answered.

Why Are Some Questions Unanswerable?

In an endless race to learn the truth, we also discover one fascinating truth: we can’t learn the truth about everything that makes us curious. Better still, there are a lot of questions that have no answers, only existing to keep us aware of the existence of the unknown.

The most basic questions that cannot be answered are just confusing. In most cases, the confusion stems from the unavailability of a consistent standard to come about the truth. Questions like “which of the armrests in a movie theater is yours?” and “how do you measure how much you love someone?” both fall into this category.

Another category of unanswerable questions is those we simply don’t know the answer to. There might or mightn’t be any answers, but either way, we don’t know them. They simply exist to be reflected upon, and we have a close to zero chance that we’ll ever discover the answers.

Some of the questions that fall into the just explained category include: “Will tomorrow ever come?” and “what is the objective definition of the concept of truth?” We don’t know the answer to either, and there’s almost no way to try to find the answers, even if the answers exist.

Finally, there are funny questions that are specifically designed so you will be unable to answer them. The motive of these questions is to be funny, and they fit that motive pretty well. Questions like “why do our noses run and our feet smell?” and “why are they called buildings when they’re already built?” fit well in this category.

If you need a huge collection of these unanswerable questions, look no further. The following section will list some questions that cannot be answered that will blow your mind.

List of Questions That Cannot Be Answered

If you’ve read this article from the start, you should already know a lot of questions that cannot be answered. However, it seems like it doesn’t matter how much you know, you just can’t come up with a lot of them out of the blue.

Coming up with those questions isn’t very difficult. However, you’ll need plenty of time to come up with a single question, which isn’t a good idea when you want to wow your friends with the questions.

To help, here are some unanswerable questions that will definitely blow your mind.

1- What was the beginning of time?

Starting a mysterious list of questions with one that asks when everything started sounds like a good idea, at least to me. Away from that, however, we can all agree that nobody really knows when time started, regardless of how religious or scientific you are.

2- What is the goal of humanity exactly; do we have a purpose in this world?

Humans have been in the universe for 300,000 years, and we’ve achieved a lot of development as a species. You can argue that there are no animal species that have achieved as much growth as humans. However, whether or not we’re achieving our purpose as a species is still debatable.

3- Is there a concept of the absolute truth?

It seems like too many people believe that the truth is different things to different people; how are we supposed to come up with an objective definition of the truth if that is the case. Does objectivity even exist? Is there really a concept such as absolute truth?

4- In a movie theater, which of the armrests is yours?

It’s high time we all come together to talk about this very pressing issue, and it’s not only for theater armrests. In the average airplane, there’s always this mental battle of who has the right to the armrest, and I don’t think we’ll ever get an answer to that.

5- If “abbreviated” is used to describe shortening words, why is it so long?

There are plenty of confusing things that we have no control over. However, I’m struggling to understand how the person that came up with this word decided that an 11-letter word is the best term to describe a word that you’re literally trying to shorten. It’s just confusing.

6- When does the future start?

We keep planning for the future, but when do we really draw the line between the present and the future? Since there’s no objective scale or metric for measuring when the future starts, you shouldn’t even try to find an answer.

7- What is the future for you if you end up dying tomorrow?

We keep planning for the future, but a huge percentage of people keep dying young. For those set of people that never live to see their old age, when can we designate the future for them? Is there even anything like a future for anyone?

8- Are we living or just dying?

Death is always sudden and instant, and you don’t get a warning. However, we keep telling ourselves that we’re living, while knowing that everyone inches closer to their death date with every minute they live. The question is: “are we really living or just slowly dying?” Nobody’s brave enough to answer.

9- Are you still indecisive if you decide to be indecisive?

Indecisiveness is simply not being able to make a decision. But if you can decide to be indecisive, does it make you both indecisive and decisive at the same time? We’re still on the lookout for an answer.

10- If everyone claims life is unfair, doesn’t that mean life is far?

When you start listening to stories from people, you’ll easily notice that far too many people think life is unfair. If life can be unfair to everyone, doesn’t that make it fair to everyone? That’s another question that you don’t really have to answer.

11- When you wait for a waiter, doesn’t that make you a waiter?

As explained earlier, you don’t always need to approach these unanswerable questions from a perfectly logical standpoint. When you throw logic out the window, you’ll notice that waiting at a table in a restaurant makes you a waiter.

12- If there were no calendars, how did the inventor of the calendar know what day it was?

The modern-day calendar wasn’t the first version of the calendar that was ever in existence. Calendars slowly evolved, and as time went by, people found more effective ways to keep track of time. But there must be something like the first calendar; how did the guy that come up with it know which day it was?

13- Are we really alone in the universe?

If we take a second to think about the vastness of the universe, we’ll understand that it’s almost impossible for us to be the only living and intelligent beings in the universe. Interacting with aliens would be fun if we eventually come across them.

14- Why are they called buildings if they’re already all built?

From our English classes, I can recall that you only add the “ing” suffix when something is still in process or ongoing. If that is the case, why do we call houses and other structures buildings when they’re not ongoing projects. Should it be “built” in that case?

15- If you wasted time having fun, can we still say you wasted time?

Most dictionaries define time-wasting as bad use of your time. However, having fun isn’t necessarily a bad use of your time. If you wasted time having fun with your friends, for example, that makes it a good use of your time and doesn’t put it in the timewasting category, no?

16- If you hate all haters, doesn’t that make you a hater yourself; will you hate yourself?

Here’s an example of a question that’s intentionally worded to confuse you. Hating something essentially makes you a hater. A hater is something, so hating a hater automatically makes you a hater yourself. Wouldn’t you be hypocritical to not hate yourself in this scenario?

17- How did you arrive at this exact point in time in your life?

Here you are, reading an article about questions that are impossible to answer. Of all the possible things you could be doing at the moment, you chose only this; isn’t that surprising? What are the odds? Well, it doesn’t matter how you arrived here, if you’re reading my article, you’ve arrived at the right place.

18- Why is it called a boxing ring when it’s rectangular?

One of the most pressing questions we will never get an answer to is why it’s called a boxing ring when it’s in the shape of a square. Unless you can show me any proof that there were square rings in the past, I’ll be unable to make sense of this. Even so, I’d be interested in knowing how people wore them.

19- If rules are always meant to be followed, why are there exceptions?

There are things that we should just let slide without asking for explanations, and I think this question should be one of them. Come to think of it, if we’re supposed to follow rules unconditionally for a perfect world, why do we allow exceptions to the rule?

20- If anything is possible, is it possible for anything to be impossible?

Okay, take a couple of seconds to think about this. When talking about anything, it’s referring to every possible scenario. Something being impossible is a perfectly possible scenario. Doesn’t that make the statement “anything is possible” mean any scenario might be impossible? It’s confusing, but that’s the point.

21- Is perfect health achievable? Is anyone perfectly healthy?

According to the World Health Organization, health is a state of mental, social, and physical wellbeing, and not just the absence of diseases or infirmities. Looking at this definition, you’ll notice that almost nobody is truly healthy today. Is perfect health really achievable?

22- Is the Earth a living organism?

You’ll do a bit of work trying to convince me that something that floats around the universe, rotating on its axis, and housing the only source of life we know on any galaxy isn’t living in and of itself. While getting an answer to that question isn’t really necessary, we still have it to think about.

23- Who decided the alphabetical order and how did he come about it?

If there are any of these questions that cause me to lose sleep every night, it would be this, hence placing it at the end of the list. When arranging names alphabetically, my name never seems to be among the ones at the top. Maybe that’s why I care, maybe not.

Conclusion

While questions are meant to be answered, it’s crucial to admit that we can’t answer every question there is. In most cases, these questions are worded to be confusing and mind-blowing, making them a perfect way to wow your friends randomly.

If you’re looking for unanswerable questions, you’re at the right place. In this article, I’ve listed 23 questions that cannot be answered but will wow your friends regardless. Also, the article has explained the logic behind these questions to help you come up with them.

You shouldn’t limit yourself to the scope of these questions. If you can come up with similar questions, you should be able to surprise your friends even more.

Finally, you have reached the end of my list of Questions That Cannot Be Answered.

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