There’s a behavior spreading that rarely gets named, but it’s quietly damaging everything it touches.
Silence without closure.
Not disagreement.
Not refusal.
Not disinterest.
Just… nothing.
People watch.
They return.
They check again.
They gather signal.
And they never respond.
This isn’t neutrality. It’s not professionalism. And it’s not harmless.
It’s avoidance — and the cost doesn’t fall on the silent party. It falls on the person or business that needs communication to operate.
In older norms, silence meant something:
- No meant no.
- Yes meant commitment.
- Silence meant you’d moved on.
Today, silence has become a shield. A way to keep optional upside without paying the cost of decision, accountability, or basic respect.
That shift matters.
Because when one side refuses to close a loop, the other side absorbs the damage:
- plans stay suspended
- resources can’t be allocated
- timelines stretch
- trust erodes
- emotional and operational load piles up
This isn’t efficient.
It’s parasitic.
A functioning society depends on people being willing to say yes, no, or I’m done. When silence replaces those answers, systems don’t adapt — they degrade.
And this isn’t limited to business.
It shows up in:
- hiring
- partnerships
- negotiations
- institutions
- personal relationships
Anywhere responsibility can be postponed, silence has become the default.
The irony is that this behavior is usually justified as “risk management.”
But risk doesn’t disappear when you refuse to decide.
It just gets exported.
Someone else pays for it.
And when enough people behave this way, trust collapses — not from attack, but from neglect.
This is how societies hollow out:
Not through open conflict,
but through quiet refusal to engage honestly.
Calling this out isn’t hostility.
It’s maintenance.
Because if we normalize silence as an acceptable endpoint, we normalize dysfunction.
If you’re not interested, say so.
If you’re done evaluating, step away.
If you can’t commit, be honest about it.
Clarity is not cruelty.
Silence is.
And until this behavior is named for what it is, it will keep spreading — because it’s convenient for the one who stays quiet, and devastating for the one who has to keep waiting.
That’s not progress.
That’s decay.
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© 2025 Michael S. Faust Sr.MIAI: Moral Infrastructure for AI
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