michael_nielsen

+ Suppose matter were fully programmable. What are some unusual things you could build with it? Unusual new materials you'd like to exist? + If you could give a gift to anyone in history, but it had to be someone you didn't know, who would it be, and what would it be?

TBH, the question is overwhelmingly stimulating. Love it!

+ Think of 3 friends. What are 3 unique or near-unique qualities you love in them? Have you told them? If not, why not? + How would you change your life if you received a gift of 10 million dollars? (This is a v conventional question, but the answers are often striking IME).

We all breath out 1kg of CO2 each day or ~3billion tonnes collectively each year. Does this contribute to global warming? If so, what should we do about it?

AFAIK, the first-order answer is it doesn't contribute. That Carbon has its origins in plant matter, which we grow. So what's going on is: CO2 in the air => plant matter => (animals) => humans => CO2 in the air. There are complications, but that's the basic story.

Have you come across any good takes on the last one? I feel like there’s a possible connection to James Carse’s idea of waste as anti-property or anti-value, rather than the default zero-value a currency system with no concept of negative value is forced to assign it.

Interesting connection to Carse! Similarly, maybe it could be connected it to negative externalities?

Awesome questions! Negative money sounds like a legal challenge. For example, it gives you a whole new way of stealing. Just dump lots of negative dollars in someone’s house.

Yes, it's a good setup for a joke: "This year, the mint started issuing negative one dollar notes. Thieves started breaking into people's houses and leaving big piles of cash." (Adapted from a friend who is one of the most creative and intelligent people I will ever meet.)

I wonder if these are better at gauging certain zones of intelligence than others. How much knowledge is a prerequisite? I like first one cause people may show they don’t know what EU is ... or what E is.