I recently took a Japanese lesson where we debated some very interesting topics, and I wanted to rehash those topics
- If you had a superpower, what superpower would you have?
- So many to choose from, right? Invincibility, invisibility, ability to fly, super strength, ability to cure diseases, shooting water out of your fingers, etc., etc. Mine would probably be to be able to read other people thoughts...man that’s powerful. I’ve always been a big believer in the mind, and as violative of other people’s privacies as that is, it’d be such a big advantage in some arenas…...imagine having that ability in chess, or any other sport…..Or imagine what it would do for me dating life, being able to know what a girl was thinking, or more importantly, what a girl really thought of me. There’s like an entire movie about this (What Women Want). Also I wouldn’t have to be subjected to lectures from my mom anymore (or would get double the lecture, both in her mind and of the verbal variety).
2.) If you had a time machine, would you want to go back to the past, or go forward in the future?
The other superpower I’d opt for might be time travel, and I’d very much want to go back to the past, especially if you could change something about the present by going back there (a definite caveat that one needs to be careful about when making this momentous decision). Look, both options are very appealing financially because you could get all the winning lottery numbers from the future, or go back to the past and buy a lot of Apple stock in the 1990’s or something. If there’s no changing the present, the utility of going back to the past is limited to what I do now- just rehashing old regrets and watching it play out over and over again, or maybe reliving the best day of one’s life (not a bad day), or to just meeting historical figures or whatnot. Pass. I want to go back and change the day I was mean to someone, or didn’t have the guts to ask a girl out, or went on that awesome trip with my friends that I regret not having gone on. Maybe I wouldn’t be a lawyer anymore- I’d be an actor, or a firefighter, or live my dreams. O and living in the future? I think there’s plenty of time to do that right now, why ruin the suspense and find out what I will become or what goodies await?
3.) Would you rather marry someone who was beautiful but poor or someone who was ugly but rich?
Look, this question is very difficult to get an honest answer for because most, as with the people in this debate, will answer, “compatibility is the most important,” or “love is key,” or “it’s what inside that matters,” which could be true, but it’s kind of a cop-out for the reality that most people first look for someone whom they are attracted to physically, then figure everything else out later. Even the most clear-minded and moral of people do this, heck I do this. It’s a beautiful people’s world; we’re just all living in it. That physical attraction, as much as people hate admitting it, is very key to a relationship and keeps it going. From the perspective of marriage I’d say that people are a little more willing to compromise and go for more innate qualities that last a lifetime (beauty doesn’t), but the Hot Crazy Matrix definitely applies for most people (go on youtube and enter “Hot Crazy Matrix” if you have no idea what I’m talking about). Money (may be me being sexist) may matter more for women, but from the guys I talk to, how much money a woman makes or has doesn’t really factor too much into the equation.
On a personal note, I have a low bar of attractiveness for which if a girl is above it, I go for a shot with and look at other traits like kindness, sense of humor, intelligence, compatibility, etc., but I’d be lying if I didn’t try harder to impress prettier girls than not-so-prettier ones. Human beings are just wired that way; there’s no getting around it.
4.) Should there be a minimum wage? Should there be tipping?
California just passed a minimum wage law that will make the minimum wage $15 an hour in 2020? It’s currently $9. I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, actually. Although in theory it’s a noble effort to lift up the lower class, especially in CAlifornia where cost of living is so high and commodities are expensive, a lot of employers are unable to retain a lot of workers at $9 an hour as it is, especially in retail and small businesses (sure this is targeting big monoglothic companies like Walmart and Target, but it residually affects all companies), and those jobs will be lost. It’s a delicate balance, and going that extreme to $15 an hour could force more people out of work than deliver that benefit of allowing people more wages. I mean, think about it, is it realistic to just expect companies to give workers an extra $6 an hour in a vacuum without any sort of cutbacks or consequences? I highly doubt it. Anyway, I think tipping should be included in the price so that consumers can choose whether to go to restaurant upfront, without worrying about prices. I often am turned off by having to tip waiters and discouraged from going to sit-down restaurants for this very reason. Also, forcing people to tip through societal pressure kind of destroys the whole privatization/ communistic system of incentivizing people to do their best. Tipping should be doing your best to be friendly, helpful and being “rewarded” with a tip, not “expecting” a tip just because you’re a waiter. I don’t know, maybe I’m just being bitter about only being paid $7.50 an hour at my first job at Jewel Osco as a bagger back in high school. Sigh.
Side note:
Today one of my friends met an NBA basketball player (Jamal Crawford) at the 7-11 and instead of getting his autograph, had enough wherewithal to call his friend, who is a huge Jamal Crawford fan, and let her talk to him for a minute. HUGE suprise. Truly inspiring, and makes me want to do that for my friends.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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