Switches

Abstract

“How did you sleep?” is a question commonly put to overnight guests at the breakfast table. It is a futile question, of course, since the victim of this interrogation has to say “like a log” come what may. A much more interesting question would be “How did you wake up?” Or, if one really wanted to go into it, “Do you happen to know how your qualagens started up this morning—you know, the machinery in your brain for making feelings and sensations?” Now you might think that the only reasonable answer to such a question would be “Haven’t a clue. May I have the marmalade please ?”—but indeed there are clues.