About the preceding post. To the casual reader, the excerpt just posted would likely look confusing, disjointed, absurd. This is the start of something I have been thinking about for some time. I would like to present this idea in visual form, but for now it will continue in text.
In a nutshell, this is a story about a talking giraffe (The Giraffe) and a talking bird (The Bird) who are living in a world devoid of humankind. They set off on a philosophical journey in order to find out what the good life is. Adjectives that can describe what this is going to be like for you: post-apocalyptic, Socratic, pretentious word, etc.
Allow me to present you with Delphi, chapter one.
“Bird, what is the good life?” The Giraffe asked, between mouthfuls of leaves.
“Giraffe, the good life is to eat and frolick all day as we do now. That is all.” The Bird replied, settling onto a thin branch at the level of The Giraffe’s head. The Bird did not like when The Giraffe began to talk of such things. It made him uneasy. “Furthermore, asking such questions is unnatural. No animal does it, Giraffe.”
“Surely, that is not the truth, my friend,” The Giraffe returned, “for I can think of at least one that does.”
“And which animal is that, oh Giraffe?”
“Man.”
The bird laughed in its chirpy sort of way. “Now it is you who does not speak the truth, Giraffe. We both know that Man does not exist.”
“Oh, but it did.”
“Exactly, my friend. Did. Man went extinct long ago. It sought the same answer as you and look what became of it.” The Bird hoped to dissuade its friend from continuing down this path. Such discussions had occurred before, and The Bird had no intention of letting this one continue any longer than it had to.
“But truly, is this all that is good? Shall we simply continue to eat, sleep, and reproduce, whereupon one day we shall perish, having never considered such queries? Does not such a life seem hollow to you, Bird?”
“No, it does not, Giraffe. And it would not to you either, if you would arrest your pursuit of such foolish endeavours.”
“I think I shall ask it.”
“Ask what?”
“What the good life is.”
“No, ask WHAT that?”
“Man.”
The Bird dropped its head in defeat. When The Giraffe got on such a course, it was nearly impossible to stop it. It would simply have to learn, The Bird reasoned. If it took some fantastical journey to make The Giraffe shut up once and for all, it would be a small price to pay.
“Very well then. We shall seek out Man, and we shall ask it your question. But I think it shall be difficult, as no animal has ever seen it.”
“There is one, Bird.”
“And which is that?”
“The Platypus.”
Mattherobot 