Little Harmonic Labyrinth

Achilles:

Hey! What happened? Where is my Genie? My lamp? My cup of espresso? What happened to our young friends from the Convex and Concave worlds? What are all those little lizards doing here?

Tortoise:

I’m afraid our context got restored incorrectly, Achilles.

Achilles:

What on earth does that cryptic comment mean?

Tortoise:

I refer to the Typeless Wish you made.

Achilles:

But I hadn’t yet made it.

Tortoise:

Yes, you had. You said, “I wish my wish would not be granted”, and the Genie took THAT to be your wish.

Achilles:

Oh, my! That sounds ominous.

Tortoise:

It spells PARADOX. For that Typeless Wish to be granted, it had to be denied — yet not to grant it would be to grant it.

Achilles:

So what happened? Did the earth come to a standstill? Did the universe cave in?

Tortoise:

No. The System crashed.

Achilles:

What does that mean?

Tortoise:

It means that you and I, Achilles, were suddenly and instantaneously transported to Tumbolia.

Achilles:

To where?

Tortoise:

Tumbolia: the land of dead hiccups and extinguished light bulbs. It’s sort of a waiting room, where dormant software waits for its host hardware to come back up. No telling how long the System was down, and we were in Tumbolia. It could have been moments, hours, days — even years.

Achilles:

I don’t know what software is, and I don’t know what hardware is. But I do know that I didn’t get to make my wishes! I want my Genie back!

Tortoise:

I’m sorry Achilles — you blew it. You crashed the System, and you should thank your lucky stars that we’re back at all. Things could have come out a lot worse. But I have no idea where we are.

Douglas R. Hofstadter, GEB pp.115–6