The Dispensers of Fate
There once was a place where life was governed by dispensers.
Every morning, the people swiped their card in a dispenser’s reader and received their fate for the day.
Some dispensers gave great fortune—a windfall of wealth, an encounter with love, or a stroke of genius. Others bestowed challenges—heartbreak, failure, or loss. But every fate, good or bad, shaped the person who lived it.
The land was filled with an endless number of dispensers—so many that a person could visit a new one every day of their adult life and never return to the same one twice. Yet, despite this vast variety, no two dispensers were ever exactly the same.
Each morning, the choice of dispenser was the greatest decision a person could make. Some chose to return to dispensers that had given them good fortune in the past, while others sought out new dispensers, chasing unknown possibilities. Over time, the people of this land fell into a spectrum between explorers and exploiters.
Among them were two siblings: Kiko and Rockwell.
Two Paths, Two Struggles
Kiko had always been an explorer. Every day, they ventured into the unknown, swiping their card at dispensers no one had ever used before. Some days, they were gifted with joy, love, or inspiration. Other days, they were struck by loss, hardship, or regret. But with their youthful spirit, they kept moving, believing that the greatest fate lay just beyond the next dispenser.
But one morning, after a week of misfortune, they hesitated. They had lost an important opportunity, been dealt a painful farewell, and suffered a day of isolation. For the first time, they questioned themselves:
"What if I'm searching for something that doesn't exist? What if I'm just chasing shadows?"
They turned to their older sibling Rockwell for advice.
Rockwell, on the other hand, was an exploiter. Over time, they had discovered a handful of dispensers that treated them well—ones that granted steady comfort, reliable fortune, and familiar joys. They returned to them day after day, choosing security over risk.
But one morning, something changed.
Rockwell swiped their card at their favorite dispenser—the one that had always granted modest fortune and easy days. But this time, the dispenser rejected his card. The words flashed across the screen:
"No fate available."
Confused, they tried another one of their trusted dispensers. Again, "No fate available."
A cold realization hit them. The dispensers were not infinite wells. They ran dry.
Panic gripped them—were they too late to change?
The Fate of Knowledge
That same morning, Kiko swiped their card at a new dispenser, bracing for whatever fortune or misfortune it would bring. The screen flickered and displayed:
"You have received a fate of knowledge."
For the rest of the day, everything became clear. They could see the patterns of people’s choices—their habits, their regrets, their mistakes. They saw explorers who never stopped moving, forever chasing something better but never staying long enough to build upon what they had found. And they saw exploiters who had grown too comfortable, stuck in the loops of familiar dispensers, unaware that their rewards were diminishing with time.
They saw themselves. They saw Rockwell.
That night, they found Rockwell sitting in the Square, staring at the rows of dispensers with an expression they had never seen before—uncertainty.
“I need your help,” Rockwell admitted. “I… I never realized I was running in place.”
Kiko sat beside him. “And I never realized I was running past everything that mattered.”
They shared a quiet moment before looking at the endless rows of dispensers before them.
A New Choice
The next morning, Kiko stood before the rows of dispensers, the weight of their failures fresh in their mind. For the first time, they considered not moving forward. But then asked themselves:
"How many great dispensers have I already found and abandoned? What if I stopped searching long enough to learn from the best of what I’ve found?"
For the first time, they retraced their steps and returned to a dispenser they had once loved but left behind. It did not disappoint.
Rockwell, meanwhile, took their first step into the unknown. They had no choice—their old dispensers were gone. They hesitated before selecting a new one, heart pounding, hand shaking. They swiped their card.
The fate it gave them was unlike any they had experienced before—not perfect, not terrible, but unexpected. And in doing so, they learned something new—a glimpse into a life they had never lived before.
From then on, Rockwell changed their approach. They still returned to their most trusted dispensers, but now, every so often, they tried a new one. Not every fate was better, but over time, they found dispensers that enriched their life in ways they never imagined.
Kiko, too, changed. They had always been an explorer, but now they marked the best dispensers they had found. Instead of wandering endlessly, they began to return to the ones that had given them the most meaning, making the most of what they had learned.
One day, Kiko and Rockwell stood before the rows of dispensers, now both wiser. They no longer feared the unknown, nor clung to the familiar.
And so, every morning, they made their choice—not with fear, but with understanding.
Moral of the Story
When asked how they had both built such fulfilling lives, Kiko and Rockwell gave the same answer:
"Keep seeking new opportunities while recognizing the value of what you’ve already found."
For a deeper dive into the explore/exploit dilemma, check out Chapter 2 of Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths, which explains the concept through algorithms.
Reply if you figured out who Kiko and Rockwell were named after.