An Object That Changes the World

I often think of how a singular object can change the plot of a story. A key. A bomb. A letter. Ted Chiang (who if you haven’t read, you should) has a short story that’s called “What’s Expected of Us,” and in this short story there’s a predictor button that knows when it will be pressed before it is pressed, negating free will. Think of another object that changes the world around it through its mere existence.