Solution: High Concept Questions need High Concept AnswersA Few Frame Challenges
If youThere are a bottom up thinker, it is simply your style of thinkingseveral common misconceptions in the OP's question that makes it hardhave lead him to imaginebelieve there is a simple answerproblem with asking High Concept questions.
Two obvious problems with this kind of question:
Too broad
Opinion based
There seems to be a high level conceptmisunderstanding here about what "too broad" means. A question because you want tocan itself be very broad, but still compel a simple and concise answer it with all the hundreds of low level details. High Concepts are by definition ideas that YOU naturally start withencompass a lot of other ideas, but forcan itself be treated as a single idea. So, if you ask a broad question about the average top-down thinkertree density in a forest, these sorts of questions are very easy to conciselythen an answer which meansbreaks down every type of forest and all the hundreds of different kinds of trees that live in each one... it's is not really answering the question isas asked; so, it's not the problem: it isOPs fault that the people who do not know how to answerperson answering him sees it as "too broad" when a simple statistical average would have answered the question just fine.
IfOpinion Based means that the OP is asking for your opinion, not that a question might be answered with an opinion. If you aredo not personally qualifiedknow HOW to answer a question withinwithout just stating an opinion, then you as the guidelines of WBperson answering should just not try.SE Leave it open and let the next guy try to figure it out. I've seen countless questions over the years get VtCed as opinion based because someone could only think of opinions to answer with and then go on to be answered with an extremely factual, well researched, and highly rated answer. Opinion Based VtC means that is okayyou are expressly asking for an opinion, just skipnot that it might be answered with an opinion.
NOT OPIONION BASED: Assume Earth and move onhistory as we know it, but in my world, Hitler died from whooping cough as a baby. ThereWhat is no judgment in skippingmy world like after this change?
OPIONION BASED: In my world, Hitler died from whooping cough as a question about quantum mechanics ifbaby. Is this a good idea for a story?
Nevertheless: in practice they have just asked us to do their work as an author for them.
No they haven't. If they ask for a High Concept, and you don't knowcan only figure our how to answer questions about quantum mechanics, but it with a list of details, that is wrong to VtC questions about quantum mechanics because topicsyour fault, not theirs. If they ask for help with a High Concept, then just address the High Concept. There is still tons of work that you don't know how to answer make you uncomfortablecomes after that in filling out the details that they can do on thier own.
Solution: High Concept Questions need High Concept Answers
I don't say any of this to in any way make bottom-up thinkers or people on the autism spectrum feal badIn summery, I myself amif you see a predominately bottom up thinker and on the autism spectrumquestion asking for help with a high concept, but I also recognizethen answer the value in top-down thinkersquestion as it is asked and know thatonly as it is asked. In your head you might be able to break down thier question into 100 parts and answer them each accordingly, and extrapolate a whole setting from thier one question... but if that's not what was asked, then just don't do it. Only if they are an essential part ofexpressly ask for all the World Building communitylow level details should you VtC it as being too broad.