Posts Tagged ‘superficial complexity’
One of the most famous images imparted by the ancients to posterity is that of the eternal Sisyphus rolling a boulder up a hill without rest. The conclusion of the parable is well known: steps away from the summit, Sisyphus, through some fated contrivance of the Gods, loses his hold and sends the boulder tumbling back to its nadir. He sighs heavily, and Sispyhus returns to begin his task again, bearing a symbolic weight far in excess of the load he is forced to push. Sisyphus earned his punishment by defying the Gods (and specifically Hades), and his lesson is clear: by the work of day you will find yourself rewarded — or punished — in the longish night of death.
Alright, you’ve just killed exactly thirteen purple gremlins and harvested their nose rings for the Elder of the halfling raft village to use on the nozzles of their inflatable dingies, when the Elder informs you that to complete their nocturnal aquatic mating ritual they require ten live BLUE gremlins chained to a long stick. You [...]
