In the Next Life

If a giant robot exists only for the benefit of humans who live inside it, and it instinctively does what's best for them, is it truly self-directed? Is a pretend religion better than no religion at all? Do parallel story lines ever meet? Whose side is the hypotenuse on, anyway? Where should you report a long-term depreciable asset sold at a gain? Why did the world end in 1998 and not in a year divisible by 1000? You won't find the answers here, but you might find some better questions.