How will future generations view history?
They will view it in the same way the current and previous generations view it: as something to be learned but not to be learned from.
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
• Underwater, through snorkel and goggles.
Marilyn Hamilton, Perth, Western Australia
• Like we do, probably: history is history, and what is out of sight is out of mind.
Angela Blazy-O’Reilly, Villeneuve-la-Comptal, France
• Like most of us do now: full of vanity, shortsightedness and long boring bits.
Henrietta Sushames, Wellington, New Zealand
• Ignorantly.
Sue Dyer, Downer, ACT, Australia
• In a thoroughly revised, updated, critical new edition.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• Probably much like we view ourselves, but I hope more kindly.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• Through a glass screen, darkly.
Diane Doles, Seattle, Washington, US
• Retrospectively.
Charlie Bamforth, Davis, California, US
• In light of the current birthrate and the development of ever-more efficient bombs, they will be far too busy seeking to survive to bother looking backwards.
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• With the attention span of a digital gnat.
Margaret Wyeth, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• What future generations?
Avril Taylor, Dundas, Ontario, Canada
Much richer, and rightwing
What kind of person would you have been, had you been born to the right people?
More rightwing. Luckily I was born to left people.
David Isaacs, Sydney, Australia
• You were born to the right people. It could be that the kind of person you are is up to you.
David Bishop, Stirling, South Australia
• I’m grateful I never found out what kind of person I would have been had I been born to the wrong people.
Reiner Jaakson, Oakville, Ontario, Canada
• No different. In the words of Popeye the sailor man, “I yam what I yam.”
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
• Much richer.
Pat Phillips, Adelaide, South Australia
• Probably a narcissistic, self-absorbed individual who thinks that taking Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a good way of doing business.
Rhys Winterburn, Perth, Western Australia
• Probably a time traveller on Ancestry.com.
Noel Bird, Boreen Point, Queensland, Australia
Just take your best shot
Where does time fly to?
According to the Japanese saying, “Time flies like an arrow”, so perhaps it depends on how good a shot you are.
John Ryder, Kyoto, Japan
• It takes off on the setting sun so it can re-set and then come back with the sunrise. It was ever thus.
Doreen Forney, Pownal, Vermont, US
• Time certainly does fly; and nobody but a conductor can beat it.
Reuven Kitai, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
Any answers?
What clutters up the mind, and how do you remove it?
E Slack, L’Isle Jourdain, France
Why is “all natural” not always all natural?
John Geffroy, Las Vegas, New Mexico, US
• Send answers and more questions toweekly.nandq@theguardian.com
