The following analogy was first shared with me in an email in Portuguese by a reader, who kindly gave me permission to develop it into an article. He joins many others who have sent me a seed that has germinated on my desktop, and for whose literary stimuli I am deeply grateful.
A barrel organ is a musical instrument that plays a preset tune when a crank is turned. Many have probably seen it in period movies—players turning the crank of the instrument while a little monkey presents a glass…