Overstory

30 questions I would like to ask God

In the distant future. (Maybe I will still try to answer some of these questions myself.)

  1. Were my cage free eggs really cage free?
  2. How many years of my life did I actually save by not microwaving plastic containers?1
  3. How do we reconcile quantum physics and general relativity?
  4. Did AI have a soul all along?
  5. How many people secretly loved me, and why?
  6. How many people secretly hated me, and why?
  7. What would have been the easiest possible ethical way for me to earn $10 million?
  8. Which decisions would I have had to make to be the best version of myself? (Or the evillest?)
  9. What would have been the easiest possible way for me to save 100 lives?
  10. ...1000 lives?
  11. ...lift 10000 people out of poverty?
  12. How many kilometres did I run over my lifetime (including sprinting to try and catch the train)?2
  13. What was the real reason that my work project got cut?
  14. How many times did I play a role in someone's life-changing decision? Did it work out for them?
  15. Who is the person most like me on the planet (in personality, appearance, worldview etc.)? What are they doing?
  16. What was the biggest secret in the history of humanity?
  17. Could I have been a famous pianist if I really tried?
  18. Where did the Wow! signal come from?
  19. What is the story behind the invention of the wheel?3
  20. How was Game of Thrones supposed to end?
  21. How much did my pets really understand?
  22. Does P = NP?
  23. How do you set up a government that acts exclusively towards the good of its people?
  24. How do you overthrow a dictator and install an effective democracy in its place?
  25. What is good anyways?4
  26. What is the easiest way for me to rip the fabric of spacetime?
  27. What happens after our universe ends?
  28. What does post-quantum software look like? (Beyond the cryptography updates.)
  29. How does the world end?
  30. How does the next world begin?

Bonus: Questions I don't need answered

  1. Would my boyfriend really take care of me if I turned into a worm? (Yes, absolutely, and I would do the same for him.)
  2. Can people really see me through my third-floor windows, watching them from above? (Yes, but I pretend they can't.)
  3. What is the best music ever made on the planet? (All the music on my playlists. I'll save that for the next post.)



  1. Even the microwaveable ones, I don't trust them↩

  2. I could check this on my Apple Watch, but some days I forget to wear it. Those days always feel the most packed with physical activity for some reason.↩

  3. I would like this answer in the form of a four-hour-long podcast episode with Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal please.↩

  4. Or, if you will, what is the most comprehensive framework of morality?↩