Interview Me

I volunteered to be part of an interview chain.

This is where you have to answer 5 questions about yourself to someone, and in return you can ask 5 questions of anyone else who wants to participate.

Here are the questions I got, and my answers:

Q: As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up and why?

A: I wanted to be an astronomer. Once I learned about planets and galaxies, I just couldn't ignore them or get them out of my mind. Like in the movie "The Truman Show", once I got a glimpse of a bigger reality out across the cosmos, I couldn't stop looking for it.

Q. List three things you would do with more free time.

A:
1) I would travel more. I've always wanted to see Europe, and also some of the very remote spots of the globe not yet changed by humans.
2) I would read more. I've collected books for years, like I'm somehow gathering pieces of a puzzle. And someday I want to have the time to read all the books and put it all together. For now, I only have time to read little chunks....a chapter here....a chapter there...etc.
3) I would spend more time with my friends.

Q: If you had to choose between being blind or being deaf, which would you choose and why?
A: Oh my gosh that is a tough one to answer. I've never regretted hearing anything I've ever heard. But I regret seeing many things I've seen. Sight can be so awful. Sight is also a source of great distraction, and a killer of imagination (T.V., video games, etc.) So in many ways, the thought of being blind seems more interesting than being deaf. It would bring my whole world in much closer to me, and would allow me to use much more of my imagination. But from a purely practical aspect, I need my sight more than my hearing to do my job and to do most of the things I love. So, darnit, I guess I'd rather be deaf. That's my practical answer. Being blind would be my "romantic" answer.

Q: What do you most like about your life right now?
A: The security that comes from being "established"...having an established career, and having money saved. No matter what catastrophe befalls me next, I won't end up living under a bridge and digging through garbage. And that feels really good to someone like me who spent the better part of my life alone and living "on the raggedy edge", with little resources and no family to catch me if I failed. I'm really proud of how far I've come and what I've accomplished given the really awful hand I was dealt early on in life.

Q: If you could change one thing in the world, any one thing, what would it be and why?
A: I wish we could move the solar system closer to clusters of other stars. Our long-term survival depends on our ability to get off this Earth before we "use it up" or otherwise find a way to wipe ourselves out.

Okay, that answer went way out of bounds of the question. Let me try again:

I wish we had some kind of technology that could educate people more quickly and easily. Like in the Matrix where they could download lessons directly into the brain. Life is getting increasingly complicated and sophisticated and technical. And the education level of the general populous is not keeping up. So many important issues require at least a college degree (or equivalent study) to understand. I would argue that making informed decisions about global warming, evolution, genetics, stem cell research, foreign governments, health insurance, civil rights, economic theories, etc. requires about 20 years of total education. And the vast majority of people just don't have that. And so they are too easily swayed with appeals to over-simplified (and often religious) answers.

Global Warming? Don't worry, the Rapture is soon. Evolution? Didn't happen. Stem cells? Each one is a human being with a soul. Civil rights? The Bible says women must obey men. Foreign governments? If they aren't Christian, screw em'. Health insurance? God will answer the prayers of the sick. And so on.

The whole planet needs a way to get a lot more educated in a lot less time. I'm not going to be arrogant enough to say that if everyone is educated, they will agree with ME. But I do bet an educated populous would not fall for the polarizing tactics of the major political forces in this country.

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Okay, those are my answers. If anyone else wants to be interviewed with 5 questions, leave me a comment. :)

VL