A post by The Bloggess on Captcha and the need to fill in numbers, symbols and words that are indiscernible at least 50% of the time sent me on a wild brain chase about weird tests we are subjected to. I confess that my ability to ‘see’ the numbers in the window is less than half the time but just because that is how my optic nerve and brain interact doesn’t mean I’m not an upright homo sapien.
I was voting in Hockeyville, where they allow unlimited votes but after 10 or so you need to answer picto questions. “Identify all the pictures with eggs”, ” Find all the heavy machinery”, ” Click all the men”. I thought that most of the instructions were trick questions but was again able to prove my reality by guessing on some of them.
Then there all the ‘waste of time’ personality and description tests. What kind of dog are you? Which Star Wars character are you? What color is your mood? These are great ways to kill 5 minutes and provide some phishing info to an eventual Facebook stalker.
These common challenges seem to be pervasive and some take viral to a new meaning – “Is the dress blue or gold?” Are we seeking to define our individuality, prove some distinct trait or cling to the safety of sameness?
I got this far into my rabbit trail and realized that there really wasn’t a full post here so I offer you a couple of quotes to test your humanity.
The Lord commonly gives riches to foolish people, to whom he gives nothing else.~ Martin Luther
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer. ~ Bruce Lee
