elementary, my dear martin || data & martin
“Aficionado –– a person who is very knowledgeable and
enthusiastic about an activity, subject, or pastime, from the past participle of the Spanish verb aficionar. In more colloquial terms, you are a ‘fan’ of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work.”
“It is difficult for me to answer your question, as basic as it may seem to you. Preferences require the ability to assign emotional import to various stimuli, something that I am incapable of doing. It is for that reason that I have asked you – I am interested in learning what humans like and dislike, in an effort to better understand what factors determine emotional relevancy. In my case, the closest equivalent to preference seems to be interest. Though I appreciate each story for different reasons, I believe that I find ‘The Adventure of the Yellow Face’ to be amongst the most compelling. I find it to be a most humbling tale.”
"Oh , oh, OH ! ! You like the Sherlock Holmes novels!"
The sound that followed, then, probably could not ever be contained by any human language.
"Oh! What do you like most about it - your favorite story, I mean? Like, why do you like it? You said it's hard for you to like things, but like, you like Sherlock Holmes! That's great! But why do you like it? What other stuff do you like? To read, I mean? I can show you all the stuff! All the things!"
