Several magic stones on a beach

Suloki lived in a tribe of 83 people. (Though his language did not have a word for 83, he had devised his own writing system to record and manipulate numbers.)

One day, he and his people came upon a beach late in the evening, and on that beach were thousands of pulsing, glowing fist-sized stones. These glowing stones came in multiple colors — red, peach, pink, mint, blue, and yellow. Right away, before their parents could stop them, the children ran to these stones and began gazing into them, amazed with their bright colors. The parents soon joined in. When Suloki examined one of the magic stones, he realized the soft colors and patterns inside the stone were shifting and blending in a hypnotic way. Suloki was a logical man and did not want to become a thrall to a magic stone, so he looked away. But looking around, most of the tribe was fascinated with the stones.

Suloki panicked, trying to stop the others from gazing into the stones, but they pushed him away. They assured him they were fine. Suloki tried to convince the others to leave the magic stones behind. There was a debate on the beach, but Elder Kaasi decided that everybody could keep the stones. People gathered as many stones as they could carry. There was enough for everyone to take at least one of each color.

In the following weeks, the problems Suloki feared began to arise. People still hunted, gathered, dug for water, and tended the fire, but all the free time in-between was now taken up by stone-staring. The elders, who told stories around the fire each night, continued to do so, and Suloki continued to listen, but many would only half pay attention or not come to the fire at all because they were too busy gazing into their magic stones.

Eventually, stone-staring began to impact the tribe’s ability to function. Children would go off to find kindling and not return for hours. Teenagers would stay up all night, staring into their stones. When Elder Nuloma almost let the fire go out overnight because she had been distracted by her red stone, Suloki knew something needed to be done. He pleaded with the elders, and they agreed to hold a discussion.

Around the fire that night, much was discussed. Most of the tribespeople acknowledged some harm had come from the stones, but they also wanted to keep the stones. They asserted it was only a few irresponsible members of the tribe who let stone-staring impact their duties. This assertion angered Elder Nuloma, who stormed off. This led to a discussion about the colors of the stones. Maybe it was only the red stones that were a problem, because of their association with blood and evil.

Suloki, being a logical man, suggested they test this idea systematically by conducting a survey. He asked each tribe member to tell him how focused they feel they’d been on their duties since finding the stones, on a scale from one to twelve (the tribe used a base-twelve number system). He also asked them to estimate how many minutes they spent staring into each color of stone per day. Elder Kaasi entreated everyone to be as honest as possible, and out of respect for Elder Kaasi, the tribespeople obliged.

Over several days, Suloki collected his data. Finally, using hundreds of colored shells and beads in bowls to perform the necessary arithmetic, he computed his final result. The association between staring at red stones and slacking in one’s duties was very small, but real. When he presented his findings at the next fire, there was a heated discussion. Suloki urged the tribe to at least discard the red stones, but since the measured harm was small and people loved their red stones, the stones were kept.

Suloki felt defeated. At the time of his measurement, people had been spending 294 kupa (6 hours and 40 minutes) per day on average staring at the magic stones, and this was only getting worse over time. The tribe was not stockpiling enough water for the dry season, and there was a fear each night that an elder, captivated by a stone, would forget to refuel the fire and it would go out.

Then, Suloki had a flash of inspiration: maybe there was a hidden reason why his survey only found a small harm associated with red stone-staring. Maybe those who spent less time staring at red stones spent more time staring at other color stones! Maybe all stones were the problem! He told Elder Kaasi his theory, and Kaasi looked up from his pink stone just long enough to tell Suloki he should try running another survey.

But Suloki still had all the raw results from the previous survey carved into tusks, which he excitedly fetched from his woven basket of personal belongings. He didn’t need another survey, he just needed to process the results differently this time. He read his prior etchings from the tusks, apportioning beads and shells into his wooden arithmetic bowls so he could do the necessary calculation. Once finished, he was sure he had done something wrong, so he recomputed again. But he got the same result the second time.

He found that even comparing total stone-staring time to self-reported slacking on duties found only a small effect. Those who spent nearly all day staring at stones were almost no worse off than those who spent only an hour or two staring at stones. His mind stirred with possibilities.

He thought maybe elders, who rarely slacked, might also spend less time stone-staring. If so, that would bias the data. But even accounting for age, he got the same result. He considered that maybe it was the self-reporting that was the issue. Maybe people were lying about their total stone-staring time, or how much they were slacking on their duties. But Elder Kaasi had implored everyone to be honest, and he trusted his tribe to tell the truth. He also decided it didn’t seem like they were under-reporting total stone-staring time or the amount of slacking.

Unable to find anything wrong with his analysis, he was forced to conclude that stone-staring wasn’t that bad. That he was just overreacting. Suloki was the last remaining person in the tribe who refused to use the stones. Maybe he was just stubborn. Maybe the problems facing the tribe would have happened anyway, even if they had never found the stones. He dejectedly reported his results to Elder Kaasi, who merely shrugged in response.

He borrowed a mint-color stone from his sister Ritari and held it in his hand. If his analysis had proven the stones weren’t harmful, then it was irrational of him not to look, right? But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He gave the stone back to Ritari. Something inside him was telling him he couldn’t trust the stones. He tried to fight this irrational part of himself, and struggled every night trying to convince himself to believe his own analysis.

Then, one night, the fire went out. For the first time in generations. There was a panic, which was made worse because the tribe had also run out of water. The dry season was coming. Unless they worked double time to store water, they would have to move for the dry season to a location near a stream, which was much worse for hunting. But the worst part was the fire. Without fire, they couldn’t cook. They couldn’t ward off predators. They would be cold during the night. The only option was for the entire tribe to roam until they found another fire-using tribe and could borrow some of their fire. Hard times were ahead. Elder Nuloma was exiled as a result of her failure to keep the fire going.

As the tribe was packing to go in search of fire, Suloki took his essentials from his basket. He would have to leave most of his belongings here, as the tribe needed to travel light. He held the counting tusks in his hand, running his fingers along the many small notches he’d made. Before, these tusks were used by warthogs to dig for tubers and fight off rivals. Now they were covered in markings and sitting in a basket, inert and useless.

Suloki felt the same way about his tribe. At one time they had been a brave and spirited people. They would hunt big game and brag about their conquests. They would tell stories and dance around the fire. They would gossip. His mother and sister always had something new to say about Elder Nuloma and her antics. There was fire in the tribe. There was life. Now, everybody just stared at those magic stones as the tribe faded around them. It couldn’t be the case that the stones were mostly harmless, it couldn’t!

After giving it some thought, Suloki called upon Elder Kaasi to bring the tribe to the extinguished firepit for an emergency meeting. Tribespeople stopped their packing and came to listen to Suloki, keeping one eye on their magic stone of choice.

Suloki spoke to the tribe.

“As you all know, I have found that staring at red stones was mostly harmless. And I have also found that staring at all stones was mostly harmless. But my analysis was flawed! I believe the stones are very harmful!”

This elicited a murmer in the crowd. Some of those who had simply been staring at their stones were startled into paying attention.

“Remember when Kasu and Ritaasu tried to take down the lion by themselves, and nearly got killed?” They did remember, and there was some nodding and smiling. “And do you remember when Elder Lutori got so drunk on fermented bulb fruit that she danced naked around the fire?” More nodding and smiling. “Do you all remember the intense stories Elder Kaasi would tell? And the stories Riki would tell, which were nearly as engaging except we all knew they were made up?” Everyone laughed.

“They were not made up!” exclaimed Riki.

Suloki smiled. “We used to be together. We used to be a tribe. But this conversation is more than I have spoken to most of you in many weeks. We used to play, sing, build, laugh, and get drunk together. People still get drunk, but now it’s only to numb the lonely feeling they get from staring into their stones. We are all lonely now, aren’t we? Lonely and tired. You say you’re happy looking into the stones, but you don’t look happy. You look exhausted. Many of you slack in your duties. Many of you are up all night, sleep during the day, and are tired all the time. Many of you are spending half of your waking life staring at stones. This is not how our tribe was supposed to be! We were not tired before! We were alive!

“Even those who mostly avoid using the stones feel isolated, feel weary, feel like they are empty shells. Am I wrong? Even I, who never use the stones, feel this way. You might think this means the stones are not the problem. I thought that, too. But then I realized something. Even if I’m not using the stones, you all are. So who do I have to play ball with? Who do I have to sing with? Who do I have to tell stories with? At night, the firepit is empty. Should I tell stories to myself? Even those who don’t use the stones, or who use them only moderately, are harmed by them. Because everyone else is using them. So by using the stones, you don’t just hurt yourself, you hurt the people around you. I would run another analysis to try to prove this, but I don’t know what analysis to run. We only have one tribe. There is nobody to compare to. All we can compare ourselves to is the memory of our past. So please, try to remember how things were before we found the stones on that beach. It’s only by remembering how things were that we can realize what we’ve lost. Thank you.”

Suloki bowed his head to Elder Kaasi and took a seat around the firepit. There was a long period of silence, while the tribe considered what he said. Out of respect, it would be one of the elders to speak next. But before anyone could speak, there was a thud in the firepit. Suloki looked, and there was a red stone sitting in the ashes. Then a clack, as a yellow stone landed next to the red. One by one, the tribespeople threw their stones into the firepit. Each person would stand, walk to the pit, and throw in their stones. Suloki noticed many of them had tears in their eyes as they cast away their stones. It was hard to give them up.

Elder Kaasi was the last to get rid of his stones. “Once the stones are all gathered here, we will cast them all back into the sea where they belong. On behalf of the tribe, thank you Suloki for your wisdom. You will make an excellent elder one day.”

“I still have one request to make of you,” Suloki asked.

“What is it?”

“Bring back Elder Nuloma.” This elicited a few gasps. People did not like Elder Nuloma. “She was always eccentric, but she was never harmful. Not before the stones. We should bring her back.”

Elder Kaasi thought about it, then nodded. “Elder Nuloma has gone in search of the southern cliff tribe. After the dry season, we will collect her. Then, we will once again be whole.”

The tribespeople brought the rest of their stones and cast them into the firepit. They then finished packing to head northeast in search of fire. Suloki was trusted to carry the stones with him until they reached the sea. At least one person begged him to give them one last look at the stones, and Suloki refused. Finally, they reached the sea, and the magic stones were thrown one by one into the deep water, never to be seen again.

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