A short podcast episode from Brian Johnson's '+1' series in which Brian and Emerson discuss a riddle posed by Ellen Langer: "What's one plus one?" The episode uses playful examples (Arabic numerals, concatenation, gum pieces, sperm+egg) to show that the answer depends on context and to illustrate the value of mindful perspectives.
You're listening to Optimize with Brian Johnson. More wisdom in less time.
Hi, this is Brian.
Hi, this is Emerson.
Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. Our last plus one. We had fun with the ultimate riddles of life. From skunks and giraffes to watches and pearls. And the answer to pretty much all of life's riddles is love. Is love. After Emerson gave me that answer to the hero virtue riddle, we went to visit the ladies in the bath to tell mommy about his answer, which of course led to a whole nother round of riddles. Today we're going to talk about the riddle I got from Ellen Langer, the mother of mindfulness research and the creator of of the psychology of possibility. In our interview, she asked me this little riddle. Ellen said, what's one plus one? Now, before we carry on, what do you think? What's one plus one? You got it. Awesome. Now back to the show. So Ellen said, what's one plus one? And I'm saying to myself, the quick look inside my head in that moment went something like this. I know the answer is can't be two, but. Hmm. And then insert a thought from part X who told me, well, at least we're filming this, we're doing an interview so I'll look ridiculous. Quickly replied by Optimus, my inner daimon, who said, that wasn't very helpful. Part X, just have fun and answer the question. Yes. All of that happened in the span of a couple seconds within my mind. So I said, ellen. Hmm, Two. Ellen says, nope. The right answer is it depends. Huh, what's the right answer? One plus one. One. One.
Two ones.
Well, technically, yeah, it would be two. It could be a lot of different things. Right? So then we go on. And Ellen, in full Professor Langer mode, proceeded to school me on the importance of mindfully approaching life and its challenges. So if you're adding two of the Arabic numeral ones together, she explained, the answer is two. One plus one two. But if you're putting two pieces of gum together, the answer is one. Isn't that funny? Weird, huh? Depends. And as we discussed in the joovv light powered bathroom the other night, if you're putting two ones right next to each other, the answer is 11. Put a sperm and an egg together and you get one baby. Or maybe two. Crazy, right? You get the idea. And that's today's plus one. If you feel so inspired, have fun riddling your friends and family. As we remember to approach life a little more mindfully today.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Optimize with Brian Johnson. To find out more, go to Optimize Me.
