A ritual

Morning arrives too slowly, then all at once. Responsibilities politely excuse themselves. You power it on, half expecting fireworks, half braced for disappointment. Curiosity grips the controller and channels itself into adrenaline-fuelled fingers. Will it change your life? Unlikely. Will breakfast wait? Without question. Worlds beckon, ready for conquest. Reality buffers. Tutorials smugly advise you to blink occasionally. That was me, the day after I bought my PlayStation, an event that now feels roughly a billion years ago. Human nature being what it is, we catapult ourselves toward whatever is new, hoping to be entertained, maybe even briefly mesmerised.

I sometimes wonder if the same curiosity flickered when the sun first tickled the dark earth at the Cradle of Humankind. By then, the divine architect had already shipped His first and boldest release: humans.