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‘I fail to see a difference,’ said the Weaver. ‘Whether you find something fun or I find it fun is irrelevant, because the question already concerns only what is relative to us, individually. What the “pleasurable activity” actually entails is immaterial, so long as it is established as being both fun and meaningless. One’s mindset would not change that.’

“No, but that’s what I’m getting at,” said Ibai. “The ‘meaninglessness’ of an activity is not something that can be established. In fact, I think I can make a rather strong argument that fun, in itself, might very well create meaning. All on its own.”

‘Go on, then. Make your strong argument.’

He giggled. “Okay, well, uh! Here goes! Hmm!” He took a few moments to gather his thoughts and figure out where to be begin. “So if the hypothesis here is that ‘fun generates meaning,’ then we should first establish what constitutes fun and what constitutes meaning. In which case, I put forth the definition that ‘fun,’ ultimately, is a sense of positivity that occurs in the brain as a direct result of observing or participating in an activity.”

‘Stop there. I see your game. That definition is too broad. It can apply to plenty of situations which cannot reasonably be considered fun.’

“Mm, you think so?”

‘Yes. A “sense of positivity” is far too vague. By that definition, you could declare any fleeting sense of “hope” that one ever feels in the midst of a terrible circumstance to also be “fun,” as well.’

“Yeah-huh? And what’s wrong with that?”

‘You cannot seriously claim that you are suddenly “having fun” when surrounded on all sides by misery, just because a brief period of “positivity” comes over you.’

“Sure I can! Just because it may only exist in a trace amount doesn’t mean it’s not there!” He bobbed his head. “But I will acknowledge that, sure, it might be inappropriate to describe the overall situation as a fun one. For that to occur, I think you’d have to pass beyond some sort of critical threshold for fun. Where the positivity overwhelms the negativity long enough to cement itself in the mind.”

‘But positivity could apply to any number of other feelings.’

“And I’m saying that fun is a component of all of those feelings, too. Because positivity is fun!”

‘Mmhmm. But what of negativity, then? Is that not sometimes fun, in its own way?’