As written by Dan Hon, posted to Mastodon 2023-02-09.
At the front of the house, Alice found two curious characters, both search engines.
"I am Googl-E," said the one plastered in advertisements.
"And I am Bingle-Dum," said the other, who was the smaller of the two, and sported a pout, as to having fewer visitors and opportunity for conversation than the other.
"I know you," said Alice. "Are you to present me with a puzzle? Perhaps one of you tells the truth and the other lies?"
"Oh no," said Bingle-Dum.
"We both lie," added Googl-E.
"But there must be a clue," pouted Alice. "For how else am I to tell when to trust what you say?"
"That's the point!" laughed Bingle-Dum.
"We don't know when we're telling the truth either!" said Googl-E, finishing the other's sentence.
Alice sat down with a harrumph.
"This is truly an intolerable situation. If you both lie,"
"And lie convincingly," added Bingle-Dum --
"Yes, thank you. If that is so, then how am I to ever trust either of you?"
Googl-E and Bingle-Dum turned to face each other and shrugged.
At that moment, a mischievous feline grin began to appear, and Alice heard a whisper: "Well that's your fault for a lax regulatory environment and a body politic content to ignore the effect technology has on society, abrogating its duty to do so in a representative democracy!"
Alice scowled at the disappearing grin. "And a fat lot of good you are, Cheshire Cat!"