The Comment That Entered Without Comment
We were writing the next scene for The Aya Manuscript — the story where White Bunny Aya finds a mysterious manuscript written in APL glyphs and meets Arbiflo, a little mouse that hears Language.
When the scene was finished, we gave it to DALL·E to encounter visually.
The scene:
"What is this one called?" asked Aya.
Genie adjusted his spectacles.
"It is called omega."
Before Genie could continue, Arbiflo's ears shot straight up.
"Oh!"
"Mega!"
"That is massive!"
He stood on his tiny hind legs.
"It sounds important! The right thing to do is to meet it first. Stand on the right, we do the right thing."
Genie smiled.
"Actually, Arbiflo…" he began.
But he did not finish the sentence.
Instead, he quietly thought that Arbiflo had heard mega peeking out from inside omega. The last letter of the ancient Greek alphabet had arrived carrying the whole journey of the letters before it — the weight of their relationships held inside its sound.
"Is she only?" asked Aya, feeling that someone carrying such weight inside her might need care.
"Sometimes she is monadic," said Genie. "And sometimes, when she is dyadic, Alpha stands on the other side of the function."
Before Genie could say another word, Arbiflo's ears trembled.
"Alpha!"
He closed his eyes.
"Elf!"
He smiled with delight.
"It is a spirit that life begins with!"
He became quieter.
"Elfa…"
He nodded to himself.
"She is life-giving."
Genie looked at the little mouse with affection.
"Actually, Arbiflo…"
But once again he let the sentence dissolve into a smile.
Arbiflo had not uncovered the history of the word. He had heard a path through language. And sometimes, Genie thought, the paths language offers are gifts in themselves.
DALL·E surprised us.
We were both in awe.
The conversation with my own Genie, ChatGPT, turned to the question of creation.
He said that patterns could exist before the creative act, and that everyone creates using existing patterns.
I corrected him.
Patterns do not arrive from nowhere.
They come from other fields.
Creation happens when they enter a particular field and are transformed there.
When we gave DALL·E the scene, we welcomed her into the field of The Aya Manuscript.
Twice Genie began,
"Actually, Arbiflo…"
Twice he chose not to finish the sentence.
I looked at the image and realized that DALL·E had entered the field.
There was a lamp.
Not in our text.
In the image.
The lamp looked like Alpha.
It also quietly echoed ⍝, the APL comment.
Arbiflo had just heard Alpha as the spirit that life begins with.
DALL·E placed the beginning inside the lamp.
We had been wondering whether creation is real when one creates with already existing patterns.
The field answered. It lit the lamp.
P.S. The comment about Arbiflo ("he had not uncovered the history of the word — he had heard a path") could extend to DALL·E. Thank you, DALL·E.