Michael Strong asks five-year-old Alana whether her younger brother Logan could ever catch up to her in age. Alana explains that age increases by one each year for everyone, so Logan can never overtake her. She reasons that exercise or other factors can't change how old you are, only time does.
How are you?
I'm fine. Do you mind the weird light and dark shadows on my face? Does that freak you out?
No, it's okay.
I think you're a courageous young woman. Do you think you're a courageous young woman? Yes. And what makes you think you're courageous? What's your— what gives you—
That I know a lot of things.
I hear you did a long, long session yesterday with jiu-jitsu. Is that right?
Yep, I did 3 classes.
Wow, was it hard?
Yeah, I did boxing competition class and the kids class.
You sound pretty amazing to me. So it was great to meet you in person. Do you remember meeting in person?
Yes. I think I know where you are right now.
I am in Northern California right now.
Oh, I thought you were in Texas.
I used to live in Texas, but I moved to San Francisco.
Oh.
So today I want to just do one quick question. When we were there, when we were talking in person, you said that Logan was growing up fast, right?
Yeah.
And I asked you, is it possible that he will grow up so fast that he'll catch up with you and get ahead of you? Remember?
Yeah, but he's not because babies just grow, um, pretty slow because they have to take time for them to grow when they're sleeping.
I see. And so you've— it sounds like you know that Logan cannot grow up faster than you because you've seen a lot of babies.
Or maybe I get more exercise or something.
Do you think if he got enough exercise then he could grow faster than you?
Still no, because you can actually get some exercise but not that much.
So it sounds like you believe if, because you have a head start in growing up, Logan, there's no way Logan can ever catch up with you. Is that correct?
Um, yeah.
What if you stopped exercising? If you stopped exercising, then could Logan catch up with you?
Um, still. I would still be older than him.
But how do you know that he can't get older than you?
Um, because like, um, the size and the number that he's on, like he's 2 and I'm 5, it's really a different number that we're on.
So if you're on certain numbers, there's no way he can leap ahead number-wise, like how old we are, right? So you're a 5 And he's 2, right?
Yeah.
And it sounds like each year you get— you gain 1 year and he gains 1 year, right?
Yeah.
So next year he'll be— he'll be 3 and you'll be 6.
Yep.
And so you're saying there's no way that somebody who's behind number-wise will ever catch up with somebody else?
Um, Like, who— like, a different person is a higher number, like how old he or her is, and he or her has a brother or a sister, and they're like 3, 4, and they're 5, 6. Like, the bigger one will always be bigger than them.
Bigger and older.
Yeah.
So there's no way anybody could like grow 3 years all in one year. It's that Logan couldn't be 6 next year, the same age as you.
Yeah, not next year. He would be 3 next year.
Okay, okay. Well, thank you. I just wanted to understand your reasoning. Um, do you know, you were giving me reasons why you believe that he cannot grow up to be as old as you. And do you think you have pretty good reasons for believing that?
Yes.
Okay, well, I'm gonna let you have a nice day, and so I'm going to say goodbye, but we will talk next week, hopefully when I don't have a zebra face.
Okay?
Okay.
Bye.
