how are you doing?

How are you doing? What does this question mean? Is it a greeting? A way of saying "Hi"? Are you asking just to be nice? What answer are you looking for? When you ask someone how they are doing you sometimes just expect them to say the most typical answer "GOOD". I do it myself. "How are you?" has become a greeting with no expectations of an answer longer than one sentence. Do we honestly want/care to know how the person is doing when we ask them? Do we want to know? Do you want to invest? Or are you just trying to be nice?

I have been challenged with this more that once here on the ship because "how are you doing?" has become a way of saying "hello" to someone. I do it. I don't want to ask the question just to be nice. When I ask I want to ask because i want to know the answer.