Oracle at Delphi

Scholars and travelers flock to Delphi, the most important shrine in Ancient Greece, to ask questions about the future and await, in exchange for gold and gifts, enigmatic replies from the Pythia, priestess of Apollo. The deep-rooted impulse toward oracular dialogue, the intellectual exercise of deciphering the Pythia’s statements, and the cultural significance of such prophetic divinations lays a foundation for contemporary search engines and predictive text engines that tap into our collective consciousness, offering sometimes puzzling, sometimes profound answers. -Sasha Stiles