I understand that, but often questions are based on assumptions, and those assumptions need to be bright to the foreground to properly explain.
When you ask, “why don’t they…” you must believe doing whatever it is will achieve something. No-one asks “why don’t they make teapots out of chocolate” because everyone understands it would be a bad idea. But people do ask “why don’t they make a machine to suck CO2 out of the air” it’s with the assumption that:
Less CO2 in the air would be good
Such a machine is possible
Your question contains assumptions but they’re less obvious.
But when you ask, “why couldn’t they…” it’s always with an idea that it would accomplish something
I’m asking out of ignorance.
I understand that, but often questions are based on assumptions, and those assumptions need to be bright to the foreground to properly explain.
When you ask, “why don’t they…” you must believe doing whatever it is will achieve something. No-one asks “why don’t they make teapots out of chocolate” because everyone understands it would be a bad idea. But people do ask “why don’t they make a machine to suck CO2 out of the air” it’s with the assumption that:
Your question contains assumptions but they’re less obvious.