============= In the Desert Or: Numbers ============= src -> com -> bin - src: I assume that's source. Like the original sources. Start there. - com: I assume this is compare. Or maybe computer. Not sure. - bin: What's bin? I assume that's you and me. Why? I dunno. Usually things go from src to dst. The first arrow starts at src. The final arrow goes to us, so we're the dst. They want us to know this was intended for us. Are you sure? I thought this was just a diagram of how source code gets compiled. How so? Well obviously. I mean look: src is source, com is compile, bin is the binary output. src -> obj -> bin 0: It's the same map as before, but now it says obj instead of com. Whoever wrote this must be trying to tell us something. 1: What? 0: Not sure. Could be a lot of things. Maybe obj means object. 1: Like object files? That fits pretty well with my ide--- 0: No no, I mean "object", the verb. Maybe whoever wrote this objects to our interpretation of the previous message and they want us to know we got it wrong. 1: Ok, under this theory of yours, what's their objection exactly? 0: I don't know. com src -> obj -> bin 2 U 2 L@R D ☀️ 🌕 曰 0: There's another one! 1: What does it say? 0: Exactly what I predicted. 1: How is _this_ exactly what you predicted? 0: That they objected to our first interpretation and wanted us to know that the com in the original meant compile. 1: Isn't that what I sa--- 0: Or maybe compare. Or commentary. Ok, I know the way now. We start with the the original sources. That's src. Then we compile and compare latter day commentary on those sources. That's com. Then we give our own interpretation, as 0 and 1. That's bin. 1: That's a bit of a stretch. 0: No it's perfect. The rest below that is consistent with my theory too. 1: _(Beyond skeptical)_ Explain? 0: Well the first map said `src -> com -> bin`. So just read the rest. Excluding the original content, the additions now say "object 2 U 2" and then "L@RD☀️🌕" which means "[I] object to you two," and then "@" is "at" so the word "L@R" is "latter", and obviously "D☀️🌕" is "day" and "曰" is an old chinese character that means "speech" or "words" or "sayeth." They're saying I object to you two and I want you to look at the latter day commentaries. 1: That was the dumbest thing I've ever heard. 0: Trust me. I've been here before. The L||D w||ks in mysterious ways. 1: I think you're dehydrated. 0: Ok if you're so smart what's your theory? 1: Same as my original theory The "com" at the top is "compilation". 0: How do you explain the rest? 1: Not sure. But I think it's probably a keyboard. 0: How is THAT a keyboard? 1: Look. The U L R D would be Up, Left, Right, and Down. They're even in the right places. 0: Ok well how do you explain the sun and moon? 1: I don't know. It seems like all this is some strange representation of a programmer. So maybe ☀️ and 🌕 are representing programming day and night. Or they could be the brightness keys on the keyboard. I don't know. 0: How do you explain the 2s? Or the @? Or the 曰? 1: I don't know. I don't have an explanation for those. 0: Well there we have it. My theory explains every bit. Yours has no explanation at all for three different pieces. I win by parsimony. 1: How is THAT parsimony? 0: My theory is simpler. 1: In what way? I feel like I have at least four diff-- 0: Look it's not hard to come up with theories that explain part of the data. For example, I could come up with some nonsense theory like proposing that "com obj" refers to the "Component Object Model... a binary-interface technology for software components from Microsoft that enables using objects in a language-neutral way between different programming languages, programming contexts, processes and machines." 1: That doesn't seem totally implausible. 0: It's absurd. The L||D wouldn't be talking about Microsoft code, be realistic. 1: Is any of this realistic? _(Narrator: 0 and 1 continue walking.)_ 1: Found another one! 0: What does it say? ======================== ld so ld so ld so src -> obj -> bin -> run exec . exec . exec cc . ld . a .o || o. 兔 (ld: obj -> bin) (ld: bin -> run) 🌕 ☀️ 山 三 曰 ======================== 0: Um. 1: Um. 0: Run. 1: What? 0: It's telling us to run. RUN!