Agreeing to disagree

Some of you may be aware of a little project that Jared is working on. I won't go into details about the nature of the project itself, but I think the whole thing was sparked by an amusing incident that happened recently. We had restaurant reservations and got there a little early, so we walked over to a bookstore nearby. We ended up looking at a few games, including the game Would You Rather?. One of the questions on the box was, "Would you rather have a head twice the normal size or half the normal size?" I immediately said I would rather have a head twice the normal size.

I guess I'm not totally sure why, but it just seems less grotesque to me to have a big, even massively big head, than a head that is incredibly small. A half-sized head just strikes me more as a very strange deformity, and one that would make people assume you were intellectually impaired, as well. Anyway, Jared could not have been more adamant about the opposite view. He thinks a huge head would be a big impediment to normal living, whether it be muscle strain or what have you. Anyway, he continues to be baffled -- I mean, really baffled -- by my view on this. This just serves to reaffirm to me that we could not be more different.

One the other hand, one of the questions on the box was, "Would you rather age only from the neck up or only from the neck down?" I immediately decided neck-down, and John, who was also with us, immediately stated neck-up. As soon as I articulated my reason for neck-down, though, John was showing signs of being persuaded. My reasoning: I'd rather feel young and look old than vice versa. Of course, I wouldn't be free from old-age diseases that beset the brain, like Alzheimer's, but I'd be relatively free of worry about a whole host of other problems of aging, including heart disease and most forms of cancer, not to mention arthritis and osteoporosis. So all in all, a decent trade-off. I can tell that my form of reasoning at least holds some weight with my brother, whereas when Jared and I disagree on an issue, we often have to agree to disagree. Luckily we rarely disagree on big stuff.

Anyway, if you take them one question at a time, these things are pretty interesting food for thought.