The Friday Five for 25 March 2022
From thefridayfive
1. If you could spend 24 hours locked in a room with anyone, from any time in history (including present) or a fictional character, who would you choose?
This is an excellent question and the reason i wanted to answer this set.
On one hand, it would be interesting to be able to speak to someone from history and get their insight into the impact that they had on future generations. Of course, this is assuming that we could magically speak the same language as well. In that case, probably the most notable person from history whose impact is still felt in many parts of the world is Jesus of Nazareth. I'd be very curious to know what he would think of how his small sect of Judaism ended up becoming a global religion, and if he could even recognize it after being reinterpreted and rewritten by different groups over the centuries.
On the other hand, if we're locked in a room for 24 hours - and i'm going to assume that means we not only don't have internet, but also that after the 24 hours the person would disappear back into the ether - it wouldn't be especially productive to have an important figure in history show up. If they couldn't communicate with the rest of the world to clarify their actual intent, then what's the point? Nobody would believe the story i told afterwards, so it would just be an exercise in fulfilling my intellectual curiosity, and not actually useful to the world.
So perhaps it would be better to be locked in a room with someone who could actually teach me something useful, which could be used to improve the world. I imagine a fictional character from the future would be the best in that case, but at the same time they might be living in a fictional world where science doesn't work the same way, so they wouldn't be able to share knowledge that's actually practical in our world. Also, i don't think i have the scientific grounding to be able to be able to learn something useful to the world in 24 hours, even if i did have an excellent teacher from the future.
Which basically goes back to choosing someone purely out of selfishness - who would i personally like to hang out with for 24 hours? But then i think... my mother? Sure it'd be nice to talk to her again, but to imprison her in a room for 24 hours just so i can tell her about the things that happened in my life since she died? That doesn't feel like a nice way to honor her... I mean, i couldn't even take her out to eat some food that she liked, or see a part of the world she had on her bucket list. It's so selfish.
And that kinda brings me around to not wanting to pick anyone at all. Locking anyone in a room for 24 hours feels wrong to me. It might be worth it if their knowledge could have a positive impact on the world (ticking time bomb scenario), but because i am not an influential enough person in my real life to action any knowledge i might gain, there's nothing that anyone could tell me that could really have an impact anyway. It'd just be cruelty without a benefit.
2. Is there any one question you consistently ask everyone important to you?
I don't think anyone is really important to me, or no one that i know closely enough to be able to ask a question in the first place. If i was somehow speaking to a politician whose policies impacted me negatively, i might ask them to explain why exactly they decided on the policy. But i guess they'd give me a canned answer anyway, so it'd be pointless.
3. If you had to choose one personally important question to never have the answer to, what would it be?
None. It's worth knowing the answer to every question. That's the whole point of being alive, isn't it? The quest for knowledge, the furthering of the species.
4. If you could change one life-changing event in your life, would you?
No. There used to be many things in my life that i regretted, but now i am old enough that all of them have played a part in who i eventually became, so if i changed them then i wouldn't be me any more. I only hope that people i have hurt in the past feel the same way.
5. Which household chore do you hate the most, and why?
Surfaces, now and forever. There is nothing more infuriating than having to take all the stuff off a thing, then wipe it with water, then you can't put the stuff back on the thing because it's wet, and anyway 2 seconds later the thing is covered in dust anyway, so what was the point? Worst.
1. If you could spend 24 hours locked in a room with anyone, from any time in history (including present) or a fictional character, who would you choose?
This is an excellent question and the reason i wanted to answer this set.
On one hand, it would be interesting to be able to speak to someone from history and get their insight into the impact that they had on future generations. Of course, this is assuming that we could magically speak the same language as well. In that case, probably the most notable person from history whose impact is still felt in many parts of the world is Jesus of Nazareth. I'd be very curious to know what he would think of how his small sect of Judaism ended up becoming a global religion, and if he could even recognize it after being reinterpreted and rewritten by different groups over the centuries.
On the other hand, if we're locked in a room for 24 hours - and i'm going to assume that means we not only don't have internet, but also that after the 24 hours the person would disappear back into the ether - it wouldn't be especially productive to have an important figure in history show up. If they couldn't communicate with the rest of the world to clarify their actual intent, then what's the point? Nobody would believe the story i told afterwards, so it would just be an exercise in fulfilling my intellectual curiosity, and not actually useful to the world.
So perhaps it would be better to be locked in a room with someone who could actually teach me something useful, which could be used to improve the world. I imagine a fictional character from the future would be the best in that case, but at the same time they might be living in a fictional world where science doesn't work the same way, so they wouldn't be able to share knowledge that's actually practical in our world. Also, i don't think i have the scientific grounding to be able to be able to learn something useful to the world in 24 hours, even if i did have an excellent teacher from the future.
Which basically goes back to choosing someone purely out of selfishness - who would i personally like to hang out with for 24 hours? But then i think... my mother? Sure it'd be nice to talk to her again, but to imprison her in a room for 24 hours just so i can tell her about the things that happened in my life since she died? That doesn't feel like a nice way to honor her... I mean, i couldn't even take her out to eat some food that she liked, or see a part of the world she had on her bucket list. It's so selfish.
And that kinda brings me around to not wanting to pick anyone at all. Locking anyone in a room for 24 hours feels wrong to me. It might be worth it if their knowledge could have a positive impact on the world (ticking time bomb scenario), but because i am not an influential enough person in my real life to action any knowledge i might gain, there's nothing that anyone could tell me that could really have an impact anyway. It'd just be cruelty without a benefit.
2. Is there any one question you consistently ask everyone important to you?
I don't think anyone is really important to me, or no one that i know closely enough to be able to ask a question in the first place. If i was somehow speaking to a politician whose policies impacted me negatively, i might ask them to explain why exactly they decided on the policy. But i guess they'd give me a canned answer anyway, so it'd be pointless.
3. If you had to choose one personally important question to never have the answer to, what would it be?
None. It's worth knowing the answer to every question. That's the whole point of being alive, isn't it? The quest for knowledge, the furthering of the species.
4. If you could change one life-changing event in your life, would you?
No. There used to be many things in my life that i regretted, but now i am old enough that all of them have played a part in who i eventually became, so if i changed them then i wouldn't be me any more. I only hope that people i have hurt in the past feel the same way.
5. Which household chore do you hate the most, and why?
Surfaces, now and forever. There is nothing more infuriating than having to take all the stuff off a thing, then wipe it with water, then you can't put the stuff back on the thing because it's wet, and anyway 2 seconds later the thing is covered in dust anyway, so what was the point? Worst.