Robert Kirby: Having a prophet isn’t the same as having a brain

I always hated story problems in elementary school. The idea behind them, presumably, is to get you emotionally invested and make it a bit more imperative to solve the problem.For example, Sally has eight cookies to take to the home of her grandmother, who is infected with the coronavirus. If Sally gives two cookies to friends along the way, and another is stolen by a dog, will Sally catch COVID-19?See? Rather than just a colorless equation, there is an actual imaginary person involved who needs