When it comes, this will be the fourth message received from Alsafi in my lifetime. Few have timed their career so fortuitously. The first came when I was a child. The second came just weeks after I joined the Intercivilizational Observatory’s San Francisco office, and I wormed my way onto the analysis team. The third came the year I met Cassio, and I was doubly lovestruck. Still, I was reading responses to questions another generation had asked. But now, a full 39-year round-trip after I began, I’ll finally get answers to my questions. Ones from my youth, maybe, but they’ll be mine. After all this time, I’ll finally be In Conversation.

~ Andrew Dana Hudson, from The Weather Out There – Long Now

This piece of fiction is one of those things I start skimming, thinking “should I mark this for later reading?” and then read it all the way through. So of course I recommend you do too.

I find tremendous value in considered conversation. Usually, a conversation about the weather isn’t such a valuable opportunity. But this conversation about “weather” is really about what are the limits of what can be considered a conversation… is understanding required for it to be a conversation? Or is simply trying to understand, enough?

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