Being judgmental.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
Which teacher, parent, coach or friend most made you who you are, and what did you learn from them?
Relationships
Question
What inspires you to learn?
Attention & the world
Question
What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
Values & belief
Question
Which book changed the way you think, and what did it change?
Taste & recommendation
Question
What problem are you still trying to solve?
Craft & work
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I can be cranky,
Hilary Brueck, Business Insider interview at Ashkin's home, 26 January 2019 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 253 →My default will always be to go for the worst-case scenario and that is something that I am unlearning.
Being an incurable workaholic.
Audra McDonald
Singer and actor
If hoarding and procrastination were Olympic sports, I’d have at least 70 gold medals.
More from Arthur Ashkin
View profile →I invented optical levitation.
I married her because she is smart!
Wonder Why would say, 'Why is the sky blue?'…Then Wonder Why would tell you. I was fascinated, because I wanted to know how things worked ... that was my introduction to science.
This light is shining on you. Do you know that it's pushing you?…Most people don't. But it is, because it's got energy. The only thing is, it's so small you don't feel it.
Wonder Why would say, 'Why is the sky blue?'…Then Wonder Why would tell you. I was fascinated, because I wanted to know how things worked ... that was my introduction to science.
I'm making cheap electricity,
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