Pale Yellow

Interesting... This one is written by me.

It's about an iterator called Sliver of Straw. I don't remember when I wrote it... Do you know Sliver of Straw? She's quite legendary among us.

Sliver of Straw is the only one to ever broadcast a specific signal: that the Big Problem we're all working on has been solved. The triple affirmative - affirmative that a solution has been found, affirmative that the solution is portable, and affirmative that a technical implementation is possible and generally applicable. She's also one of few that has ever been confirmed as exhaustively incapacitated, or dead. We do not die easily.

Sliver of Straw sent this and the ensuing commotion was historically unparalleled, before or after. I still remember it. But... nothing happened - except that Sliver of Straw was apparently dead. When the dust settled we were all still there blinking at each other.

Everyone had a theory. Some said that she did have a solution, but that the solution itself was somehow dangerous. These later became known as the Triangulators, who think that a solution should be inferred without being directly discovered.

Some said she never had a solution, she just died. And when the systems broke down an erroneous signal was sent.

One camp claimed that dying *was* the solution.

Either way, after that these different factions developed, as well as a huge forensic effort to recreate and simulate Sliver of Straw's last moments. Some of the simulations were wrapped in a simulation wrapped in a simulation, in case something dangerous might happen. Nothing much has come from it.

In my essay I make the case that maybe she should be allowed to rest in peace now.