"If there's no meaning in it," said the King, "that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we needn't try to find any."

Carroll's text continually pushes against any attempt to pull out a moral or greater meaning, and Alice herself rarely participates in close readings of the type conducted during the trial. And yet as hypertext grew in sophistication, Alice's journey continually re-emerged as metaphor. The very act of journeying down the rabbit hole, in a digital parlance, involves embracing an alternative presentation of reality. Alice's way of probing Wonderland (and its way of probing back) is reminiscent of the chatbot Eliza and her many Caterpillar-esque heirs. Alice's adventures were already game-like: now anyone can play.