Introductory Questions
​Hello Scholars! Are you ready for the new WSC season? Each year the beginning is always a time for excitement as we dive into new topics, get our teams together, and wonder what the future holds. Glory, alpacas, medals....tears... of joy...Without further ado, let's get started!
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A big thanks to Sean An for researching the Introductory Questions and getting the ball rolling.
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The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but how does it end?
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Have you ever asked someone, “Are we there yet?” If so, whom were you asking—and where were you going? Did you ever get there?
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Have you ever gotten there, then decided it wasn’t worth it in the end?
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“And now, the end is near,” croons Frank Sinatra. But how do we know when we’re getting to an ending—or to a point of no return?
This classic song from 1969 opens up with “And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain.” Being one of Sinatra’s most iconic songs, the lyrics were written by Paul Anka, adapted from a French song ("Comme d'habitude"). It encapsulates a theme of personal reflection and defiant independence. But how do we know when we’re getting to an ending—or to a point of no return?
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This song has some strong American cultural distinctions. It is an anthem for self-determinism, and often played at funerals to celebrate a life of authenticity. Politically, in 1989 Soviet government used this song to symbolize letting Warsaw Pact nations to choose their own affairs without government intervention. It is also a classic send off song for political leaders including Donald Trump who chose it for his 2017 inaugural ball. There is even a trend to sing this song at karaoke as loudly as possible, off-key, to show you are a rebel and a free-spirit, unfazed by conformity.
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In 2003, millions of people gathered at theaters to watch the final Lord of the Rings movie. They watched it for a long time: three and a half hours. Many complained they kept thinking the movie was about to end, only to have it keep going; by most counts, the movie had five separate endings. Today, if you were streaming it at home, you’d easily be able to check how much longer you had to go. Does it make a difference to your experience of a work to know how close you are to the end of it?
The whole Lord of the Rings series, compiling of The Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers, and the Return of the King, is a global phenomenon, earning massive acclaim and 11 Oscars. The movie follows the narrative Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, essentially depicting saga chronicles to destroy the One Ring.
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In the final movie, which is the Return of the King, there are five separate endings:
1. “I’m glad to be with you, Samwise Gamgee, here at the end of all things.”
Instead of ending the story at the slopes of Mount Doom, ending an apocalyptic story with an apocalyptic end, Jackson decided here to make us feel a breath of relief instead of the despair for Frodo and Sam as they approach death relieved of their burden. There’s a breath of relief, but not a sense of closure, as the screen fades to black and the first ending flickers out.
2. “Now count the days of the King!”
The first ending is still not the end. As time passes, sun breaks through as Gandalf and a trio of giant eagles searches for Frodo and Sam. The scene is brief, as the two spare eagles pick up Frodo and Sam. To Frodo, the rescue felt like a dream, as he wakes up in a big bed in a large bright room in the Houses of Healing. There is no despair or sadness, as the Fellowship reunites around Frodo’s bed. Aragon takes his place as King of Gondor, and the world is all as it should be except that the hobbits are still far from home.
3. “We were home”
After Aragorn's coronation, the camera traces a path on a map back to the Shire. Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin return home, but find that nothing has changed and no one knows or cares about their journey. Their homecoming is quiet and ordinary. They silently toast their return. Sam proposes to Rosie Cotton, fulfilling the wish he made on Mount Doom. The hobbits settle back into their peaceful, unchanged lives in the Shire.
4. “There’s room for a little more”
Frodo cannot return to his life in the Shire, not like the other three hobbits. He feels disconnencted and remains haunted by his trauma and wounds. He chooses to leave Middle-earth. This is the true end of the fellowship. He tells a heartbroken Sam that the Shire was saved, but not for him. Sam, whose deep roots tie him to the Shire, cannot follow, fulfilling his deepest fear of being left alone.
5. “Well, I’m Back”
This ending is not an ending, and hardly a scene. Sam walks home, turning Frodo’s words over in his mind. His wife Rosie greets him at the gate with their children, next to a dusty lane leading to an ordinary home bursting with flowers. Sam kisses his wife and his children, and tells them he’s back. He’s never leaving again.
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How about in the real world? Does knowing something in your life—say, the school year, or a friendship—is about to end change how it feels or what it means to you?
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Has an ending ever taken you by surprise? If so, what kind of ending was it?
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When you’re working on a group project, how do you keep track of progress?
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“It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” is a phrase often misattributed to the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. But is it ever just the destination?
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Sometimes, not getting there—or anywhere—can be beautiful too. Are there places that were neither where you started nor where you were going, but were worthwhile destinations in their own right?
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“I just can’t wait to be king,” complains Simba. He is not quite one thing, not quite another. Not everyone is the heir to the throne, but we do all spend time as teenagers, no longer children but not yet adults. Are there advantages to life in the in-between? Would it be better if we transitioned more quickly from childhood to adulthood?
Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of the most influential American writers from the 1800s, and the classic reference to "Where's Waldo?" He was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and critical thinking, as well as a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society and conformity. Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism. Even though he did not say the quote "It's not the destination, it's the journey." it closely fits in with his philosophy. In famous essays like Self-Reliance, Emerson argued that truth and value emerge through lived experience rather than abstract goals. Emerson is often associated with the authentic quote: "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail". Over time, the "journey vs. destination" aphorism became a shorthand for this broader Emersonian worldview.
"I Just Can’t Wait to Be King" from the Disney classic movie "The Lion King" is a high-energy anthem of youthful arrogance and the desire for total autonomy. In the song, young Simba envisions his future reign not as a responsibility, but as a liberation from the "orders," "lectures," and "constant supervision" of Zazu (the King's advisor). Here, Simba, who is impatient to grow up, assume power, and escape childhood, complains about his life. Not everyone is the heir to the throne, but we do all spend time as teenagers, no longer children but not yet adults. In the Lion King, Simba soon learns that adulthood is not all fun and games, after the death of this father and his exile. This gives us the lesson that teenage years serves as a chance to explore and learn about responsibility and find your own path to happiness.
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Are there lessons we can learn from technologies that once seemed about to arrive—nuclear-powered cars, food pills, 3D televisions, and many more—but haven’t yet?
From the Ford Nucleon to the Studebaker-Packard Astral, these vehicles failed to progress past the prototype stage in the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1950s Atomic Age, car companies designed nuclear-powered concept cars like the Ford Nucleon. They promised incredible range but were never feasible. For one, nobody had developed a nuclear power plant small enough to fit into a car. The necessary reactor shielding was far too heavy, and managing radiation and waste in a consumer vehicle proved impossible. These designs remain fascinating symbols of mid-century futuristic optimism.
Food pills are a classic science fiction trope, depicted as the ultimate convenience food. In reality, the concept is impossible because a pill cannot provide the necessary calories, fiber, and volume our bodies require. Modern real-world equivalents focus instead on nutrient-dense, compact meal replacements like pastes or bars used in extreme situations, not magic-bullet pills. It's been a popular science fiction genre for a long time, since the 1930s in fact.
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In the 1930s sci-fi musical Just Imagine, a man who wakes up from a coma in 1980s NYC (that was before all of us were born.As he tours a dystopian city where people are only known by number – he is taken to a “café”, where his new friends order him up a meal of clam chowder, roast beef, beets, asparagus, pie and coffee. With a little cajoling, he eventually swallows the pill, before declaring that “the roast beef was a little bit tough” and lamenting “the good old days”.
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The reality is that this idea stemmed from social trends of the era. Women were tired of being confined to the kitchen and the pills were a sign of liberation from domestic culinary duties. This was typified by the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair with its motto: “Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms.” Science was creating all sorts of opportunities and also dystopian fears. During the space race, astronauts sucked nutrients out of silver pouches and it added a sense of technology and space travel to the concept. Later others worried about the population explosion and how this would be a solution to solve the planet's existential crisis. In "Project Hail Mary" the main character contemplates an existence on an alien planet where he eats meat "genetically grown from his own flesh." The fascination and fear never stopped.
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Do you keep a to-do list, or is it something you haven’t gotten around to? How much of your to-do list do you usually end up doing?
While the exact numbers vary by study, approximately 48% to 76% of people maintain to-do lists, but only 11% consistently complete everything on them.
About 48% of people use a to-do list as their primary time management tool. Some surveys suggest this number is as high as 76% for U.S. citizens. Among professionals, roughly 63% frequently create lists. Interestingly, women are generally more likely to keep a list than men (71% vs. 60%). About 20% of men believe they can manage everything "in their head," compared to only 9% of women.
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The reasons that people can't follow through include having too many options (over seven) can lead to "analysis paralysis," making it harder to start any task. Also, people often pick the simple tasks first to give you a feeling of accomplishment and the tough ones never get done. And of course, too many distractions, so the lists can't keep up with our fast-paced life. Nevertheless, many feel keeping a list is a way to chronicle their life and writing, jotting, typing something down keeps them sane in our hectic lives.
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The truth is that sometimes we’ll never get there at all. Most videogames are left unfinished; nearly half of those who start university don’t get a degree. What do you think causes people to commit to things that they don’t complete—and are modern technologies making it easier or harder for us to get things done?
Despite becoming a mainstream entertainment giant, the video game industry has a completion problem. Even Red Dead Redemption, one of the most popular games, data suggests only about 10% of players finish the story. The reason is simple: an average gamer has less free time, and online multiplayer has shifted focus from long single-player campaigns. In response, many developers are creating shorter, more focused games to better fit modern lifestyles and attention spans.
Key reasons that games are left unfinished:
1) The aging gamer - the average age of most gamers are in the late 20s to early 30s, so they have less time to devote to gaming.
2) A glut of games - too many games are being released and they end up cannibalizing each other.
3) Growth of multiplayer games - less resources are devoted to single-player games as people enjoy playing with their friends shorter, bite-size games.
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The question of whether we’re there yet is asked in other fields, too, such as business and economics. Is a product ready to be launched? Have we reached the point of diminishing returns? Do these questions ever apply in everyday life as well?
Here, the answers are probably yes and we’re getting there. So—let’s get started.