Time to inject some fun into this blog. I am offering a prize to the person who comes up with the best answer to the question:
If you had access to polyjuice potion and a strand of hair from any person in the world, who would you choose to be and what would you do?
Post your answer as a comment, and I'll pick a winner when I come back to the US (first week of September). You can post anonymously provided that, if I announce you the winner, you e-mail me your identity (e-mail not provided here: thanks James). Put "blog contest" in the subject line. Keep your answers clever (while remembering the properties of polyjuice potion) and clean. Vulgarities have no place on this blog: my little cousins read it (or at least claim to), so be nice.
Here is my answer: I'd choose to be Elvis, since he is obviously still alive. I would call up the Rage Against the Machine instrumentalists and arrange a jam session.
Some admin stuff: I've been incredibly tied down with work, so the India series will have to wait a week or so. Stay tuned. I'm really excited about it and I am sure you'll enjoy it as well.
6 comments:
Dangerous to put the email on the blog like that, A-team...gonna get a lot of spam robots all up on that.
I think the utility of Polyjuice Potion (you're such a nerd, by the by) clearly lies in either the abuse of someone else's power, or in the experience of someone else's experience. Given all that, I think I'd go for a black woman of no particular importance, aiming for the experience of being one such walking down the street (without, I suppose, a voice, either). Would be interesting.
For the longest time, I have wanted to be Lisa Randall. It would be such a pleasure to, even for a moment, be able to think about the universe in a conceptual framework that goes waaaay beyond three-dimensions.
atheen - you're such a dork.
james - great answer. makes the MPH part of me all warm and fuzzy.
as for the answer, why would i want to be anyone else?
i would like to know what goes on in the minds of true geniuses; i think it would be fascinating (possibly overwhelming) to see how sophisticated their thoughts are.
thus, i'd use the polyjuice to become any macarthur fellow whose discipline lies in math, econ, or medical science (except atul gawande). or someone like raj chetty (even though he's not a macarthur fellow...i'm partial to him since he's from wisconsin).
Here, here. I agree with Noor. It would be godawfully awkward to be in someone else's body. ...
Anyway, in retrospect, I realize that polyjuice potion, as powerful as it may be, does not effect mind transformations/transfigurations ... thereby invalidating my sole interest in being Lisa Randall. In otherwords, I might look like a smart, gorgeous theoretical physicist ... but I wouldn't THINK like one. And all I really want is to THINK like one. So screw it.
Anyway, I think I'd like to be three years old again. Since I think like a three year old, act like a three year old, might as well look like a three year old!
if Tej's restrictions apply, then the point of using polyjuice potion would be not to experience someone else's mind, but to experience other's response to them (which would include the said person's influence or power over others). I think this is what James is looking for? Unfortunately, I think James probably tries to understand better than a lot of other people what its like to be a minority woman, and its someone who doesn't even desire that experience who needs it! So I'd like someone who doesn't like me very much to choose the person I'd become - then I'd get to experience something that may change the way I think.
That, or I'd be the program director at my first choice residency on the morning they make their match list.
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