Chapter 1

From Simplicity, The Universe

“Man is not born to solve the problem of the universe, but to find out what he has to do; and to restrain himself within the limits of his comprehension.”

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In a commencement address in 2005, writer David Foster Wallace relayed this parable: “There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys. How’s the water?’ […] [T]he two young fish swim on for a bit and eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’” One needs awareness of all the things around us that are so taken for granted that they are invisible. We start our examination of games with one ...

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