A fellowship of secret scholars spent five hundred years on this task. Now we're penciling it in for a Friday morning. - Robin Sloan

That's almost cute: Don't forget your ruler on your first day at cult! But where is 'down below'?

Baking, by contrast, was solving the same problem over and over again, because every time, the solution was consumed. I mean, really: chewed and digested. Thus, the problem was ongoing. Thus, the problem was perhaps the point.

... nothing lasts long. We all come to life and gather allies and build empires and die, all in a single moment - maybe a single pulse of some giant processor somewhere.