Yesterday I was in Retiro park with my girlfriend, watching the sunset. The sun was just about to touch the horizon. I asked "how long do you think it will take for the sun to disappear completely below the horizon". She answered ten minutes, I guessed five. As we were observing the sun come down, a WhatsApp message from a friend in common chimed in: "I don't feel well and I have tickets for a theater play, would you like them?", after discussing, paying and transferring the tickets, the sun had gone under the horizon by minute eight, so we didn't know who was closer to the mark.

So, this is a game that I propose to you, my reader:

the sun is just about to touch the horizon, how long would it take for it to completely disappear under it?

Guesstimate the answer, then ask ChatGPT, and see who, between the three of us, is closer to the mark.

In any case, as we were walking to the theater I proposed another game to my girlfriend: let's suppose a friend is coming to visit me. I won't tell you anything about him or her, except one thing. After I tell you that one thing, tell me if it's a bonus, a neutral, or a negative.

The person is:

  • A gay man
  • A lesbian woman
  • A transgender person
  • A 4 year old child
  • An 8 year old child
  • A 16 year old adolescent
  • A 25 year old person
  • A 35 year old person
  • A 60 year old person
  • An 80 year old person
  • An 100 year old person
  • A Muslim (committed)
  • A Christian (committed)
  • A Buddhist (committed)
  • A Hindu (committed)
  • A Jew (committed)
  • A carpenter
  • A truck driver
  • A retail worker at a clothing store
  • An abstemious drug dealer
  • A catholic nun
  • A catholic priest
  • A Fortran developer
  • A janitor
  • An entrepreneur
  • A doctor
  • A lawyer
  • A middle school teacher
  • A Japanese
  • An American
  • A Peruvian
  • A Canadian
  • A Spaniard
  • A Mexican
  • A moderate right wing
  • A left wing
  • An extreme right wing
  • An extreme left wing
  • A vegan
  • A vegetarian
  • A meat aficionado
  • A foodie
  • A minimalist
  • A philanthropist
  • A hoarder
  • A digital nomad
  • A gamer
  • A musician

Well, this list is just an idea of the kind of questions you can ask. We both agreed on the meta game that is, we should be neutral about any label we hear about someone we don't know, but inevitably we assign a value to it. We complete a picture about who that person is by a single detail. What if we find a gay muslim 80 year old extreme left wing entrepreneur fortran developer? Oh those are my favorite kind.