Welcome to Quills and Answers part 3. This edition was originally supposed to be published in the Falcon Quill Magazine. Unfortunately, an internal error led to a previously posted edition to be reprinted in the magazine. The Falcon Quill would like to apologize for the incident and the staff members at fault have been dealt with appropriately. Nonetheless, here is the third release of Quills and Answers with Ben Tomasic. Please continue sending questions to [email protected] or through the Quills and Answers Google Form.

Q. What is real?

A: Depends on what you mean by “real.” Then whatever you believe is real is real. Every person has their own subjective standard for “realness.” The realest standard for realness is believing everything that occurs. The most unreal form of realness is believing you are living in a simulation. 

Q. If you could visit any country in North Africa, which one would you visit?

A. This is a difficult decision. To be honest I don’t know much about the North African countries, but I think I would visit Morocco. It’s a tough choice as all of the countries have a very unique culture, but the one I want to visit would have to be Morocco. It’s a great place to see a mix of European, African, and Arab cultures. 

Q. Thoughts on midterms?

A. While personally I object to the concept of midterms, I understand why Country Day reimplemented them. In college, there are exams at the end of every semester, so it seems logical for a college preparatory school to implement them as part of the curriculum. However, I feel that some of the teachers did not adjust for the implementation of midterms. It was thought that midterms would replace the massive project and test load that arrived at the end of every semester. However, in some classes, the projects and tests were included along with midterms, which makes studying for midterms ahead of time harder because a person would have to divert their focus to projects and tests instead of studying for midterms. Hopefully, the teachers will make proper arrangements to adjust to this change and grant the students more time to study for midterms instead of worrying about other tasks. Of course, saying this will probably get teachers to give us more work next year, but that is just my opinion.

Q. First, suppose that the famous ship sailed by the hero Theseus in a great battle has been kept in a harbor as a museum piece. As the years go by some of the wooden parts begin to rot and are replaced by new ones. After a century or so, all of the parts have been replaced. Is the “restored” ship still the same object as the original?

A. No, it isn’t. And also the ship isn’t restored because you replaced it with new parts which is completely different from restoring a part.

Q. Second, suppose that each of the removed pieces were stored in a warehouse, and after the century, technology develops to cure their rotting and enable them to be put back together to make a ship. Is this “reconstructed” ship the original ship? And if so, is the restored ship in the harbor still the original ship too?

A. Yes, if you used reconstructed parts and restored them, it is still technically original because it is made up of original parts that have been fixed.

Q. Suppose there is a town with only one barber. The barber shaves every man who does not shave himself. Does the barber shave himself?

A. Yes, he does because everyone in the town shaves themselves including the barber. Because every man who doesn’t shave himself would shave himself on his own because if he didn’t shave himself then he would be shaved by the barber. In summary, the town is a place where people must not have facial hair. If they do have facial hair they are forced to get it shaved by the barber who in turn also has to shave his own hair.

Q. Do you ever doubt the existence of others?

A. No, why do you doubt in my belief in the existence of others? That is the real question.

Q. Do you think aliens exist?

A. Surely they exist somewhere out in the world or maybe only a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Surely somewhere out in the vast universe that we have barely explored there is some life form like us out there. I mean our vastly expanding universe is too big not to have any other type of life form exist.

Q. Why do you try so hard at things you suck at?

A. We all suck at stuff and the point of life is to improve on things that we suck at. How are you supposed to get anywhere if you don’t improve on your weaknesses?

Q. Are you Chinese?

A. CULTURE LESSON. I consider myself Taiwanese; however, it depends on who you ask. The communist takeover of China in the early 1920s forced out the nationalist party, who were forced to flee to the island of Taiwan. However, China still claims Taiwan as part of China, but Taiwan is recognized as independent from China by many countries including the U.S. In conclusion, I identify as Taiwanese and the majority of people would consider me Taiwanese, except in China and a few other countries.

Q. How do I get the guy I like to notice me?

A.  I am not the best person to answer the question because I am wired way differently than other people. What I can tell you is just to talk to the guy if you want to have a chance. That does not guarantee anything, but it is a sufficient start. By talking to guys you will also figure out whether you really like them or not. You could find yourself realizing that he is not the guy for you. However, you will never find out unless you ask.

Q. What size pants do you wear?

A. I wear a pants size that fits me. 

Q. Are you subscribed to fellow FWCD student Camden Percifield at twitch.tv/itzdubseason?

A. No. I’m not here to do plugs for twitch channels unless its twitch.tv/karn_champ. However, on that note follow my youtube channel The Basketball Guy and watch my videos. Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.