#6: Die another day?

Circuit-bent jigsaw #6 brought with it a quandry.

The rest of the pieces having formed the 5 other jigsaws, there would be only one piece to fit into each grid position, or pixel.  Practically speaking, there was no need to roll the dice, because only one piece was possible.  I would be able to see where the next piece should come from much more easily than in previous weeks, so it should be much easier and faster to complete #6.  So, no need for the dice.

This, for some reason, did not initially feel particularly at odds with the process.  This last generation would simply be a matter of “tidying up” the leftover pieces into the final finished image.  But by that rationale, it would be fine to take a clump of joined-up pieces and add them to the new image as a group.

This most definitely did not feel right.  I had somehow lost sight of the fact that that what the system would do is carry on precisely as it had been operating for the previous five generations, throwing the dice and beginning the search at the given starting point and searching in a clockwise manner.  It became clear that I must continue to follow the whim of the dice, ignoring my own observations as to where in the room the relevant piece was located (thankfully my memory is so poor, this was not as frustrating as it might have been).  Though this process would have no effect on the image, it is the only constructive process that had been put into place, and therefore must be followed, ignoring the human urge to speed up the process by increasing efficiency and inventing shortcuts.

The system is indifferent and immune to these gestures towards innovation.