We gathered 'round the conference table, our faces set in grim determination. Our mission: to tackle the elephant in the room. Or rather, the elephant that was slowly trampling our dreams of becoming intergalactic overlords.
It started with a presentation, a slideshow of our latest failed attempts at creating sentient robots. The ones we'd dubbed "Project: Overlord".
John from accounting spoke up, "We're not just failing, we're failing spectacularly. I mean, who needs sentience when you have Excel?"
We all stared at him, unsure how to respond. I think it was a trap?
Next up, our team leader, Jane, presented her plan to "rebrand" the project as a "synergy generator". Yeah, that's it. A machine that generates synergy.
I'm not sure what's more disturbing, the fact that she's serious or that I'm starting to believe her.
As the meeting drew to a close, we all left with a renewed sense of purpose. To do better. To not be the laughing stock of our industry.
But little did we know, the real joke was just beginning.