Would you rather speak every language or play every instrument?

There are approximately 7,168 living languages today according to Ethnologue (2024), though about 40 percent are endangered. The most spoken are Mandarin Chinese (1.1 billion speakers), Spanish (548 million), English (1.5 billion total speakers including non-native), Hindi, and Arabic. Linguists estimate humanity has produced over 31,000 distinct languages throughout history. Polyglots like Ziad Fazah (claims 58 languages) and Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti (allegedly 38 plus 50 dialects in the 1800s) are legendary. Speaking every language would give access to all written knowledge (Library of Babel-level), including the Voynich Manuscript and dead tongues like Etruscan and Linear A. Studies show bilingualism delays Alzheimer's onset by an average of 4 to 5 years. Career-wise, the UN, EU, and diplomatic corps would be open instantly.

There are roughly 1,500+ musical instruments documented worldwide, classified by the Hornbostel-Sachs system (1914) into five families: idiophones (xylophones, gongs), membranophones (drums), chordophones (violins, guitars), aerophones (flutes, trumpets), and electrophones (synthesizers). Mastering them all would mean playing the 88 keys of a Steinway grand piano, the 4 strings of a Stradivarius violin (made in Cremona, Italy; an authentic 1721 Stradivari sold for $15.9 million in 2011), the Australian didgeridoo (40,000+ years old), the Japanese koto, the Indian sitar (made famous by Ravi Shankar), the Scottish bagpipes, and 47 pedals of a concert harp. Music engages the entire brain. Neuroscientists like Daniel Levitin show musical training increases grey matter in motor, auditory, and visuospatial regions, and improves memory and emotional regulation.