Guys, welcome or welcome back to the podcast where your friends Maddie and Lauren
and we're back for another episode. We are doing a fun game today.
This is one I've seen on other podcasts. How did you come up with
this idea? Actually, Lauren, because this was your call for today.
Okay, there are two reasons I wanted to do this as our topic this
week. The first is I'm taking a philosophy class. I don't know if
I talked about it last week on the podcast. I was like thinking about
dropping it, but I think I'm gonna stay in it anyway. In our
discussion section last week, our only like activity was to answer would you rather
question? And it was would you rather be able to teleport or fly?
M So that was the first thing that inspired me. Well, I said
teleport. And then it was interesting because they said, what if you were
making the decision for the whole world, like you were deciding what everyone else
was going to have the power to do too? And then I think we
all landed on flying because teleporting would be a bit chaotic, and that seems
pretty straightforward. Yeah, there were some rules too. It was like then
you couldn't have jail because people would teleport out of jail, so that was
what it is reporting teleporting. Yeah, what is it like traveling through time?
No, it's like when you think of somewhere that you want to be
and then you vanish from where you are right now when you appear there.
Oh I see, m M. I could seem too bad. I just
don't really care about either of those things. I think teleportation would make your
life a lot easier. Yeah, that would be nice. I could teleport
them or not have to fly exact. You could travel for free, you
could skip traffic. There are a lot of reasons to want to teleport,
I think. Right, Oh, well that's interesting. So your philosophy class
inspired this episode? Yes, and then I also saw that Emma Chamberlain did
a philosophical would you rather? So I haven't actually listened to that episode,
but I think it was just like deeper would you rather questions? And I
honestly found my questions for today on the internet, and some of them are
deep. So I'm interested to see what you have to say. Yeah,
she has really great episodes, like episode titles slash ideas. I wonder if
she comes up with all of them herself. I feel like at this point
she has to have a team. Yeah, because you will run out of
ideas for a podcast if you're talking, especially by yourself, every single week.
She doesn't have guess, so you're always having to come up with some
good concept that's interesting to your audience. She probably does have help, but
great, great concepts whoever is coming up with those? Yeah. Also,
when you have a solo podcast, I think you have to think of topics
that you could talk about alone for like thirty to forty minutes instead of just
for like half of that Because I don't know, I feel like it's easier
for us because we just bounce ideas off of each other and then you think
of other things, right for sure. Yeah. Well, let's get into
our life updates so that we don't drag this on too long. What have
you been up to the last week or so? Lauren? Last week or
so, mostly just school. Things are starting to get busy. I forgot
how much work school was. Today. I have class from well, I'm
going for lunch with one of my friends, like just catching up haven't seen
them yet, And after that I have three classes and then I have to
stay at school for two meetings like club meetings, club info sessions and that
goes until nine pm, so it's gonna be a long day, I think.
But other than that, just like school work, I forgot how much
homework there is, and especially at the beginning of the year when it's like
busy work, right, Yeah, I remember always thinking that there was so
much to do, Like you can never have a free moment where you don't
have anything to do because it's just piles on. Yep, there's always something
you should be doing, right, yeah, exactly. Yeah, So mainly
that last weekend was fun. There was a football game, I think on
the podcast last week I said I would be going to the game, and
we did go, though I found out it's mostly about the tailgates here.
I don't know if that's the same at every school, but most of the
excitement around football season is around tailgates, which are just like darties, basically
like day parties. Everyone's running their like USC merch, which is cute.
And then after that, some people go to the game and some people don't.
I went. We stayed until halftime. Then we realized we're not actually
that invested in football and it wasn't a very important game like it was one
that everyone thought USC would win and they did. Mm. I see,
well, I've never been to a football game, so I feel like it
would be cool mostly like you're saying, for like the team spirit. You
could say everyone's excited, But I also don't understand the game too much,
so I wouldn't be so invested in the action. Yeah, I can't say
I was that invested in the action, though. I think by the end
of football season I should know the rules. Yeah, they are very confusing.
I feel like they're just different to every other sport, kind of like
I don't know what the objective is other than run to the other side.
I don't know. I feel like that's the objective. It's still like to
get the tackle each other other. I don't know the details of that.
And then there's like the big you shaped thing. Oh right, you have
to put it through that or no, I think if you if you put
it through that, it's another way of getting a point. I don't know.
I've honestly no clue, like, yeah, zero clue. Have football
works. You can come to a game and check it out. But I
also found out that there's a parent's weekend, so people's parents come out to
the tailgates and go to the game so mom and dad might come. I
heard, well, mom's trying to make it a thing. Everyone's invited.
Oh oh, I'm not sure if that's how that works, but okay,
yeah, well that's what she said. Yeah, I don't know, but
it sounds pretty fun. Sounds like a very college girl thing to do.
And I feel like you're in your college girl era, so that all checks
out. So true. Well, my life has been pretty great. I
went to this resort this past weekend called Sense, and we actually went to
the one in Hawaii, which is how we got the idea to go to
the one in California. It's in Palm Springs. It was great, really
really nice because Palm Springs is it's in California. It's like for us not
I don't know how to explain what it's like. It's another city in California,
kind of similar to where we live, but it's in the desert.
It's extremely extremely hot, so that was one downside. But the resort itself
was amazing and it really felt like you were somewhere else, which I loved.
That is nice because yeah, it's not too far. I feel like
most people listening probably know what Coachella is. That is that is in Palm
Springs, right, I don't know. It's a very like mid century modern
town. Not a lot of big hotels. They're all like boutique hotels set
like with fifties architecture and stuff. So it's a very like the rest of
the hotels are all kind of similar. But then this place was very unique,
and it was more so like something you would expect in Hawaii or the
Caribbean or something more like they're trying to be like a resort. Was it
like the one we went to in Hawaii that was all about wellness and like
relaxation exactly. Yeah. So you get a spa treatment every day, and
then there's like fitness classes and it's just very small. There's only twenty two
rooms. So it was extremely This staff was extremely attentive, they knew your
name, like it was just like a very unique experience. So I really
enjoyed that and it was a great weekend. And that's really my only update.
Otherwise I've kind of just been at home working, you know, doing
the normal things. I'm happy to be back in La and into my routine
this week, and then I don't know if we're traveling anytime soon. I
think that we wanted to go back to Canada for Thanksgiving, but that parents
weekend that you're talking about actually is on Thanksgiving weekend, Canadian Thanksgiving weekend,
so not truly will happen with that. Yeah. I told Momos like,
you guys really don't have to come, like a lot of my friends parents
aren't even going, And she was like, no, we want to come,
but I don't even have Canadian Thanksgiving off here, so I don't even
think I would be able to go back. Well, she'd really like to
go to the football game, so that's probably why priorities. All right,
let's get into these would you rather questions? I think they're going to be
really interesting. M Okay, I want to start off with the classic.
I feel like you've probably heard this before. Are you ready? Yes?
Okay. The first one is would you rather know the date of your death
or the cause of your death if you could not prevent it? I would
say cause I think the date would just be like it would ruin your life
to note the date of your death. You'd just be counting down. I
feel like the cause wouldn't be all that interesting though, because I feel like
I just wouldn't want to the date. Okay, so you would choose maybe
neither ignorance. Well, I had to choose one, I would choose the
cause because I don't want to know the date because I think that that would
well, I don't know, could either ruin your life or it could make
you live your life a certain way. But I'm gonna stick with Cause.
M I don't know, I get what you're saying. I feel like I
would still want to know the date of my death though, because then I
could make my last few moments count, you know, but not if it
was like a year from now and it was just like impending doom. You
know. Yeah, that's a tricky one. I'm sticking with Cause, but
I understand both perspectives. You know, you could really take advantage of your
life if you knew when you were going to die, could spend all your
money if you wanted by saved for the future if you know the date of
your death. Good point. Okay, what's yours? So my first one
we've also kind of discussed, and it is basically, would you rather have
a job that pays extremely well but you don't really feel happy or fulfilled in
or like it takes up most of your personal time. Or would you have
a job that is fulfilling and makes you happy, but it doesn't pay very
well, like maybe you're struggling for money. Like it has to be extreme
enough, right, like a job where you make one hundred million or I
don't know whatever the average in the US is. Let's say, oh,
this is hard, because I feel like I would need more info, like
how much do I hate the job where I make a lot of money?
And how badly am I struggling? Is it like all I think about,
Like it's very limiting. I'm you know, yeah, I don't know the
details of this. I think it has to be extreme. So think of
the extreme of both of those situations. Okay, what would you say,
Well, I would want to make a lot of money because I think that
choosing happiness and fulfillment is a choice that you can make even if your job
sucks, you know, even if it's taking your personal time. It's kind
of like something you could work on. I guess, yeah, yeah,
that would be my choice. I feel like either way, you might not
be that happy. Like if the other side of this is you are struggling
to make ends meet, and you're struggling to provide for your family. You
probably spent a lot of time thinking about money and thinking about like that is
kind of unfulfilling as well. So I don't know if in either scenario you
would be that happy. So I guess I would agree with you. Then
I'd rather be making a lot of money, so at least I like my
happiness didn't come from or my unhappiness, or I didn't come from like worrying
about myself and my family. Right, Yeah, I agree, because you'd
be worried for other people other than yourself rather than in the first example,
it's kind of like a selfish perspective because you don't feel personally fulfilled. M
Okay, we're aligned on that one. Then my next question is similar to
the question that inspired this whole episode because it is also about superpowers, and
it is would you rather be able to read someone's mind or control their mind?
I would say read someone's mind, just because I don't really care about
controlling people's minds, Like, what does that have to do with anything related
to me? I disagree. I think I don't want to read people's mind,
like people don't tell you everything that they're thinking for a reason. So
I would rather protect my peace by not knowing what's on their mind and just
take what they say at face value. But I think controlling someone's mind,
though it could be, you know, used for bad purposes, I think
if you used it in an ethical way, it could actually really benefit you.
You could convince someone to pay you a million dollars medicine, and you
can go on all the vacations you want. That's true, that's true.
I don't know if i'd want that power, though, I guess mmm,
okay. Or you could use it for good. You could convince them to
donate money to charity or to you know, just like that the world.
You are the one that's making those decisions, so people are only acting in
the way that you want them to act or exactly. I think that's too
much power for one person. M I feel like you would definitely want to
keep it on the DL, like it would be nice if you could make
them think it was their idea, like you were just very persuasive. All
right, Well, I don't mind that if it was more like they didn't
know that you were doing it. I just think that, oh, control,
okaying and knowing that's just weird to me. It would definitely make the
dynamic a little weird. I think it would me work if they didn't know
you were doing it, right, I agree with that. My next one,
I think this is especially great for Lauren Okay, oh no, and
you're friend scared. Would you rather be street smart or book smart? Okay?
You know a lot about the world, a lot about how things work,
a lot about like you know how to fix things, how to do
things. You know, I'm trying to think of an example, like you're
just an aware of person, but also you know how to do things for
yourself like cook and you know, fix, change, attire, that sort
of thing. Or would you rather be extremely intelligent in school? Okay?
Maddie says that this one is especially for me because I have been told many
times in my life that I'm book smart but definitely not street smart, and
I've come to realize that's definitely true. I think, well, I don't
know, I think they're perks to both, but it would probably serve you
better to be very street smart, especially if that included being like socially intelligent.
I was going to include that, but then I think it's too easy,
Oh, because anyone would choose feel like that's part of it though,
No, I think it is to a certain extent. Yeah, but I
agree that would get you so much further in your life if you're socially intelligent
rather than book smart. Yeah, because I think, even in like a
professional sense, to be very successful, you don't necessarily have to be the
smartest person in the room. Right. In fact, I think a lot
of the times people who are very successful aren't the smartest person in the room,
but they're good at talking to other people, working with other people,
and they employ people who are very smart. Yeah, it's so true.
You definitely don't need to know all the answers or be the smartest person.
But intelligence is also important because then you're able to have conversations, and in
intelligence about information, I mean because then you're able to participate in conversations because
you are aware of things that are happening in the world, or like you're
able to have a concise opinion about things, which I think is also important.
So what's your choice? But to me, street smart, well,
okay, probably street smart, because to me that also means that you are
able to function better on a day to day basis like one. I think
it could be better professionally if it included social intelligence. But I think the
main point of street smarts is that you are able to do things on your
own. You're able to have conversations with people, you know a lot about
your world. So maybe you don't know. I don't know. I think
to be street smart you do have to be intelligent. Yeah, but when
I say street smart, I mean more like you know how to use a
map, you know how to change a tire, you know how to cook.
But like, maybe you're not the smartest person in the room. You
don't come across as intelligent. That's what I mean. And that's hard.
M that's actually so hard. I think I'm not that street smart either.
Okay, well, if that's what you meant by the question, then maybe
I would choose book smart because I think most of those things can be learned.
Yeah, I agree, they don't all apply to you. Like I
don't need to know how to use a map personally, because that's not something
that I would spend my time learning. I think it would serve me better
to be book smart and then learn the few things that I need to function
in the world, maybe not a few all the things I need to live
right. Yeah, it's just I looked up the definition the experience and knowledge
necessary to deal with potential difficulties of life in an urban environment. M to
me, it's like knowing how public transportation works, knowing like your way around
the city, like you understand the way things work. But I feel like
that could be easily learned just by living in an urban area. I agree,
So Book Sparted is agreed. Okay. My next one is, would
you rather be able to change the future or the past just by imagining it?
Future? Why? Because I don't care about the past within the past
is in the past. I have no major regrets. I think that everything
that you've done up to this point has had an impact on your life in
some way, and it brings you to where you are. And I'm way
more interested in the future and being able to control the future or to make
things happen, I think is way more interesting to me than talking or fixating
on the past. I see pros to both. I would probably not want
to change the past because is it called the butterfly effect? You change one
thing and then it changes everything else Exactly. There's so many movies about that,
about how it's impossible to live today if you change the past. Basically,
yeah, I would be scared to mess things up for people. I
feel like that's a big, a lot of power to put one in one
person, because maybe there are a lot of people who are content with where
they are today and it's really not I think, so up to me to
go about changing everyone's lives. I think changing the future would be a good
power to have because, especially with the way things are headed, you could
like stop climate change from progressing exactly, you could stop whatever you wanted that
was bad. Like, I think controlling the future is so much more interesting
then changing the past. What's past has already happened and we're fine, like
we're okay now, but what's going to happen in the future, like the
unknown is so much more powerful in my opinion. But then again, you
kind of are creating the future right now, that's true, But you can't
control everyone's action. So if you are able to in a large way control
the future, I think that that's way more interesting. But on a personal
level, I'd rather change the future on a personal level. Would that be
your answer as well? Like in your life, change the future? Right?
Would you if in your life you could change the past or change the
future but doesn't affect anyone else. You can't control climate change, but you
can control like where you went to school, where you went to university,
like decisions that you've made. What would you choose? I would change the
future because then I wouldn't have to worry so much about how things will end
up, because I could just make them happen for myself. Though that might
be that might actually turn out to be a very good thing. That feels
like it's a risk, but I think that it would be ultimately better than
changing the past more powerful. I just feel like there isn't much in my
past that I care to change. On a personal level, I agree with
you that everything in my past has brought me to where I am today,
and I don't regret any of it. I don't care enough about anything in
my own past. Yeah, I agree, totally. Okay, my next
one. I think this is also interesting for you because, yeah, you'll
see would you rather live a life full of meaningful relationships with people or memorable
experiences mostly which are like by yourself or with like one or two people that
don't really have much meaning to you, Like, what's more important to you?
Basically is the question relationships or experiences. I think I would say experiences
if in that scenario, I didn't care that the people around me weren't adding
anything to the experience, Like if I was genuinely just really content with the
moment and glad to be experiencing it, then I don't think I would feel
like I was missing out by not having people to share that with. I
guess it's so hard. I actually don't know how to answer this question,
because say you have all these amazing experiences, but then you come home when
you're alone, you have no friends and no family, Like, are the
experiences worth it? Or would you rather live a life? Or you don't
really do anything, like you don't travel, you don't see things that are
amazing, but you have these amazing and meaningful relationships. I think I would
need to compare my happiness in both well and hypothetical question, So you just
have to choose, like would I be happy living the same day every day
but doing it with great people? Yes? Mm for a while, yeah,
and then eventually I think I would be like what am I doing?
I need to try new things and like give my own life meaning, I
guess. But so you're saying that you draw meaning from experiences rather than relationships.
If that's your answer, I think I draw meaning from both. Well,
in this hypothetical, you need to choose one. It's very hard.
I don't think that anyone could really choose one or the other. But yeah,
it's a tricky one. I thought you were going to see relationships because
you don't really care about experiences like travel. Like traveling is the only example
I can think of. Really for me, I think that is true that
I get more enjoyment fulfillment from like the people in my life then I do
from what we're doing together. But in this scenario, I feel like they
are framing this question in a way that implies you get a lot of enjoyment
out of the experiences. So if I was this person who felt like drawn
to both, then I think I would choose experiences. But for me personally,
I would choose friends. All right, fine, that's fair. Are
you going to choose one? Oh? I would probably have to choose relationships
because I think in the grand scheme of your life, that's what matters more.
Although you know I love experiences, and I love traveling. I just
don't think that it would be meaningful to me if I did them alone,
did or had them alone, or did trips alone, took trips alone?
Interesting? Yeah? Fair? Okay. My next one is would you either
be four years old your entire life or be ninety years old your entire life?
Probably four, because when you're ninety, you know you can't do much.
You feel like your life has passed you by. I don't know.
I'd rather be young than old, I think, But when you're four you
can't do anything for yourself, I think. True, when you're ninety really
good health yea nine year old and great health who is very wise? True?
Yeah, it would depend on their emotional, mental, and physical fitness.
Like I don't know any four year olds that well, but I feel
like they're not really living either, you know. Yeah, true, I
don't know. I guess ninety then, but at least when you're four you
can do everything, you can experience everything, and you're experiencing everything for the
first time. Though I'm not sure if you are four for your entire life,
if it would still be as exciting as when you're four and you're really
experiencing things for the first time, right, Uh, maybe ninety then I
don't know, Lauren, this is too hard for me. I'm gonna say
ninety. I think I would choose ninety two. Would you rather have a
photographic memory, so basically you can remember anything that you want? Also for
you, because if you didn't know, Laura, Laurn has some memory issues
I diagnosed, or you could say self diagnosed. So would you rather have
a photographic memory, be able to remember any moment, any conversation, whatever,
or would you be able Would you rather be able to forget whatever you
wanted? Bad things, embarrassing things, Oh remember everything? There's nothing I
care to forget. Well, maybe I've forgotten all of it, but like
there's nothing that keeps me up in night. All right, Well that's a
good day, it's sir. That's a nice way to live with. I
think I would say remember too, because I think when you're older you want
to remember memories from your childhood and whatever. But I can see why people
would want to forget things that are embarrassing that they're like, oh, you
know, when you like do something that you wish you didn't, You're like,
I wish I could just like erase that and doesn't like haunt me.
But I think remembering is more important. Yeah, I would say remembering because
I don't feel like there's anything haunting me. And I also don't feel like
I have really had very many traumatic things happen to me that I that like
would be difficult for me to remember. You know, Yeah, that's true.
I think that if you had a big trauma that like haunts you,
you might you might vote for or forgetting, But luckily we don't. Well,
I don't personally have something that like has affected my life. The memory
of it hasn't affected my life. So I'm gonna go with you with remembering
on this one. Agreed. Okay. My last one is would you rather
have a pause button in your life or a rewind button? Hmm? Maybe
rewind. I would say rewind because I don't think in the moment you appreciate
or you would think that you want to pause, like for example, when
I was in high school, I'm like, oh, I just want to
get through this. Like I wouldn't have wanted to pause high school when I
was in it, But now I would love to like rewind to certain periods
of my life that I didn't appreciate it at the time. M. Yeah,
I agree it for sure. I also think I would need to know
a bit more about the logistics of how the pause button works, Like,
am I actually freezing time? But does the moment just feel really long?
Like can no one move? Because then I don't think there's really any reason
to freeze it unless you're like overwhelmed in your I need a moment, but
no, probably like you just get to live in this era of life for
as long as you want. You could be living at a USC hotel for
however long you'd desire. Mmm. No, I think I'm with you on
this one. Every moment is better when it's past. I agree in the
present you don't really appreciate moments the same. So true, you kind of
just wish that things would speed up, usually at least I think until you're
older. Especially that well, but a fun game. I hope you guys
enjoyed this episode. I think that this was a fun activity. Maybe we
can do more games on the podcast like this. M. I hope everyone
played along with us. It's kind of fun. The thing that people are
at home study what they would do for themselves. Yeah. Please, there's
like nowhere to comment. I wish there was, but I'd love to hear
people's responses. Maybe send us a DM on at Call your Friends podcast and
let us know what your choice is for the cult? What is this called?
Would you at there? Would you rather? Yeah, let us know
what your choices for our would you rather? Questions? Would be all right?
Well, thank you guys so much for listening. We will talk to
you next Friday. Bye,