There are days when you just feel like you've got great questions about the world which just need to be asked. Your mind is clear and the question just jumps in to your head unbidden: What if I...? Why do we...? How does this...? Would anyone be able to...? The question is there and you just need to get it in front of a willing audience and get people talking about it. Where do you go?

Perhaps you're trying to work out why something is how it is, or maybe you want to brainstorm a way to change the world a little. Whatever those burning questions that you have are, there are some great places online you can ask them in order to get some real conversation going within the wisdom of the crowds. And if you don't have any great questions, but just want to brighten up your day with something worth considering, head on over to one of these spots to broaden your horizons.

Ask Reddit

Ask Reddit is a place where any question goes - and the weirder it is the better received it is (as you can clearly see in the screenshot). If you have a particularly meaty question, these people will be all over it. If you don't have time to browse Reddit every day, you can check out the Redditor Magazine to find out the best of Reddit, including the best of Ask Reddit.

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Ask Science

The scientific sibling of the Ask Reddit subreddit is Ask Science. This is where you will find all sorts of science-related trivia that you might never have thought about. With all the best questions getting all the votes, you can be sure that the answer is rarely as straightforward as it seems on the surface. This is a dinner party conversation gold mine.

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Quora

Early adopters of the Quora service may be surprised to note that Quora still exists - even after the masses got involved. But the people of Quora love questions, so if you pick a relevant board to post your question on it will usually receive some decent attention.

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TED Conversations

Most of us internet dwellers know and love TED for its insightful videos about life, the universe and everything. Happily, the TED folks realised that their audience is often as insightful as their featured speakers, so they've opened up TED Conversations to let like-minded people discuss big questions about humanity and changes we'd like to see in the world. When you start a conversation, choose to categorize it as an Idea/Question/Debate and choose an end-date for your conversation. The conversations are curated and moderated to keep them relevant, respectful and interesting.

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Formspring

While many people use Formspring for very specific questions, I personally like to use it to ponder the weird and wonderful things about our fellow humans. Consider asking and answering questions which read like something out of a personality test. Many questions can show you personality traits you never expected. You can essentially create your own psychological experiment using your friends as the willing subjects. Or perhaps you could ask something a little out of the ordinary in order to get your friends thinking outside the box. Formspring can be good intellectual fun, really.

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More Questions And Smart Chat Online

Some of you may still be on the hunt for the best place to ask your question or to chat to smart people online, so here's a few more things to check out:

Where did you ask your burning questions? Did you get some great answers? Let us know in the comments!

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