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This is the brief on the fable of the Commissioner of Curiosity.

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This is the surreal timebending story of a curious city official

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who is exiled by a corrupt rival, only to discover a magical tool

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that helps him return to save his city from the tyranny of absolute answers.

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First, the exile.

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On Christmas Eve, 1976, the ’Commish is kidnapped by goons hired by

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Doctor Indelible, a guy absolutely obsessed with permanent answers.

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A pretzel vendor, the lone witness, gets sealed right into a closet.

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Dumped on a Pacific island, our hero receives a magical shell called

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ora gai oti from these highly intelligent octopuses.

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Think of it kind of like a historical VR headset.

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He can observe all of human communication history,

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but he literally can't change a thing.

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Second, the rescue.

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Fifty five years later, that rusty closet opens

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and the pretzel vendor steps out totally unaged.

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Wait, pause for a second.

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How on earth does a villain's closet become a fountain of youth?

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Well, in this fable, time basically bends around human connection.

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The vendor sends grad students to rescue the ’Commish,

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who takes the long way back just to study how civilizations

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actually built their cities and maps.

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Finally, the climax.

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Back in the City of What-If,

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Doctor Indelible has built the last word, a massive machine

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printing absolute answers in permanent ink.

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The ’Commish defeats it not with a better answer,

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but with a simple pink pencil eraser,

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just wiping the ink away to write not yet.

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The profound lesson here, the greatest technology

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isn't a machine that knows everything,

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but the simple ability to undo a mistake and keep wondering.

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Ultimately, the fable shows us that the freedom to say

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not yet is infinitely more powerful than the illusion of a perfect answer.