TEST YOUR BRAIN
To hack reality, you must perceive the world — and yourself — in a very different way than you’re used to in everyday communication.
Want to know if you have a talent for this kind of thinking? Surprise your brain with this test!
There are no points or scores. To “pass,” you only need to answer at least one question in a truly interesting way.
I’ll ask you nine questions. There isn’t always just one correct answer. Some answers might be smart, funny, spot-on, logical, mind-blowing, or artistic. Others might be poor, awkward, shallow, or totally off-topic.
Just try to come up with something each time. No one is watching or judging. This isn’t an exam — its purpose is to help tune your mind to the kind of thinking that supports mind hacks, deeper understanding, and unexpected performance later on.
How to go through it
Read each question and use your imagination to find the sharpest solution you can. Then click to reveal my answer.
If you think your solution is better than mine, write to me! If I like it, I might use your version instead.
The answer a logical person would give might not be the sharpest one. You’re learning to hack — to exploit a system — and that sometimes means walking a different path than the one the system lays out for you.
IF YOU EVEN COME CLOSE TO SOLVING JUST ONE QUESTION WELL, YOU'VE GOT TALENT.
QUESTION 1
IN A GAME, WHO HAS MORE INFLUENCE THAN A CHEATER WHO SUCCESSFULLY FINDS A WAY TO BYPASS THE RULES WITHOUT OTHER PLAYERS NOTICING?
Someone with the power to create or change the rules.
QUESTION 2
YOU’RE SPENDING A WEEK ON BUSINESS IN A CITY YOU’VE NEVER VISITED. BY CHANCE, YOUR FRIEND — NOW LIVING IN YOUR CITY — USED TO BE A FAMOUS CHEF THERE. IS IT A GOOD IDEA TO ASK HIM WHERE TO GET THE BEST LUNCHES?
Not really. Being a great chef doesn’t mean knowing the best spots to eat — especially for quick, balanced business lunches. He spent his days cooking, not lunch-hopping.
QUESTION 3
THE WEEK AND THE LUCK, WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON IN THE WESTERN CULTURE?
The number 7.
QUESTION 4
BLOOD, A GLACIER, A MONOLOGUE, AND OCCASIONS — WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON?
They all flow.
QUESTION 5
MOTHER TONGUE, HAIR COLOUR, BIRD, ANACONDA, MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, DAYTIME, WEAPON, VITAMIN, ACID. ONE OF THEM DOESN'T BELONG TO THE GROUP. WHICH ONE?
Anaconda.
The others are variables: “mother tongue” can be English, Czech, Chinese, etc.; a “bird” is a broader category capable of taking values such as sparrow, eagle, or flamingo. Of course, you can apply some variability to “anaconda” too — like “green anaconda” or “anaconda in captivity” — but those values are artificial or descriptive subtypes, not interchangeable categories in the same way. Their variability is limited and less predictable compared to the others.
QUESTION 6
WHAT IS THE SOUND OF A RAINDROP JUST BEFORE IT HITS A POND, A GUITAR STRING ABOUT TO BE PLUCKED, A GLASS FALLING TO THE FLOOR, AND HANDS ABOUT TO CLAP?
The sound is expectable. Incoming. Inevitable, in most cases. (If your answer is “silence,” that’s also correct.)
QUESTION 7
IF WE JUMP ON THE ROOF OF A FAST-MOVING TRAIN, IS THERE A DANGER THAT THE TRAIN WILL MOVE OUT FROM UNDER OUR FEET?
Jumping on the roof of a train would be quite similar to jumping inside it — in a world without atmosphere. But air is what makes all the difference here. Inside the train, the air moves with the same speed and direction as the train itself.
Now you're probably starting to imagine the correct answer: when you jump on the roof, the air pushes against you in the opposite direction of the train's movement — just like the pressure you feel when you stick your hand out of a fast-moving window.
But the real answer is a little different.
The question was: "Is there a danger that the train runs out from under our feet?" And the answer — grounded in reality — is: No, there isn’t.
Not because the physics works in your favor, but because you won’t get the chance to test it. Any attempt to perform a jump on top of a moving train will likely end with you saying goodbye — to the train, and most probably to your life. The air won't politely push you off. It will rip you away from the roof with chaotic, unpredictable force.
So no — the train won’t run out from under your feet while you're in mid-air. You’ll be gone long before that.
QUESTION 8
WOOD, AUTOMOBILE, ROAD, MOON, SHIP, MONGOOSE, WATER, BIKE, VACUUM, VACUUM, ROAD, AIRCRAFT, MONGOOSE, MOON, WOOD... WHICH WORD COMES NEXT?
Air.
After each word that represents a means of transport comes a word describing the environment it travels through, following the pattern 0-1-2-3; that is, increasing distance between the transport word and its corresponding medium.
The remaining words are fillers, ranging from wood to vacuum, and then back from vacuum to wood in reverse order.
Do you think if I used the pair train and railway instead of bike and road, would the pattern be harder or easier to spot?
QUESTION 9
LET'S IMAGINE TWO BEINGS. ONE IS AN EXTREMELY INCAPABLE AND POWERLESS SUPER-OMEGA. THE OTHER IS AN OMNIPOTENT SUPER-ALPHA POWER MASTER.
WHAT DOES THE DIFFERENCE IN THEIR BEHAVIOUR LOOK LIKE FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW, AFTER OBSERVING THEM BOTH FOR A WHILE?
There would be no observable difference in their actions. It would appear as though neither interferes with anything.
Absolute power would present itself with the same outward stillness as absolute weakness — passive in the face of unfolding events.
The reason for the powerless one's passivity is obvious. But why would the omnipotent one remain inactive?
For the same reason you don’t suspect your own brain of being the master of your dreams while you’re dreaming.
As the passive subject of your dream, you accept every emotion, sensation, and even the imposed timing of the dream’s story.
Most dreams last only a few seconds, yet your brain effortlessly constructs an elaborate narrative — complete with emotions, logic, and memories — that feels as though it unfolded over a much longer period.
Similarly, an omnipotent inhabitant of the natural world could easily modify, transform, or redesign reality — and, most importantly, in a way that everyone would perceive the new setting as always having been there. There would be no trace of interference. Only the impression that this is how things have always been.
Of course, one might argue whether such an omnipotent entity would even need to be observable. Probably not. But for the purpose of this question, that’s not essential.