It was the future once again.
This time, education had become the big thing. Specifically, mathematics and philosophy. All possible discoveries in languages, history, geography, physics, biology, chemistry, music, phys. ed., drama and the other old subjects had been made, and any study of these subjects consisted of simple observation and memorization.
Mathematics and philosophy were the two subjects that still mattered, and they were bitter rivals in the contest for students, money and other resources. They had been engaged in a bitter cold war for centuries, which occaisionally flared up into open quarrels, brawls and riots.
Education had become so important that children now decided at the age of eight if they were to be loyal to mathematics or philosophy. They then dressed in the uniform of their chosen academic field and even received its special tattoo. They then left their families and went away to a nearby academy of mathematics or philosophy. The concept of defection never had to be dealt with, for each side considered the other academic branch to be utterly primitive. Those who didn't hate the other field simply pitied them - respect was impossible.
The struggle between the two branches of learning was entirely paramount in the minds of those who led society, and determined almost every aspect of society. It certainly dominated every aspect of learning. Both sides offered courses on the inferiority of the other side and the superiority of their own. In each academy, students learned just enough of the opposite subject so that they knew what to hate.
All new work in either field was directed against the other, in the ever-present hope of humilating the other branch of learning and thereby demonstrating their own superiority. In particular, the academies prepared for the decadonal Academic Exposition. The Exposition was the showcase of all the new knowledge the rival camps felt like presenting to one another. Everyone who was anyone attended the Exposition, and the two branches of learning considered it to be the end product of another decade of learning.
At the Exposition, the pavillion offered by the International Academy of Mathematics was even larger and sharper than ever before. The flashing neon sign above the entrance declared "Earth - philosophy = Better." Inside, the presentation was astounding. The mathematicians had finally proved philosophy to be a fraud. It had taken millions of mathematicians several decades, but they had finally come up with an irrefutable formula which showed philosophy to be false. The formula involved vector theory applied to the mathematical patterns of the electrical currents in the human brain. It hadn't been fabricated. It was long, but simple and logical enough for anyone to understand - and it was undeniably accurate. Philosophy was a lie.
The philosophy pavillion was equally bold. The tall, oddly-shaped structure's focal point was a bold banner which declared "MATH IS DEAD." Hundreds of the academy's greatest scholars had collaborated in producing an essay which very clearly demonstrated the irrelevancy of mathematics. Drawing upon many universally accepted truths - things not even the most cynical mathematician could deny - the essay was devastatingly effective in showing math to be no more than a silly hobby.
Visitors entered the rival pavillions in anger, but left in states of disillusionment and bewilderment. Everything they had ever beleived in was gone! Sure, they could try to convince themselves that because the enemy learning was wrong, their proofs changed nothing... but the faith-destroying proofs just kept echoing in their heads.
The Exposition was not declared over, but it was over. Everyone drifted home, not knowing where else to go. Some of the deeper thinkers among them couldn't help but wonder what was force was driving them, but then the disillusionment would drown out any thought. There was no point in thinking. Thoughts lied and betrayed. There was no truth.
In the ensuing weeks, things only got worse. Every thought was just a reminder of the futility of thought. Most tried to sleep as much as possible. There were some suicides, but most didn't trust their thoughts enough to go that far. Others didn't bother because they figured one nothing was the same as another - and then cursed themselves for trying to use logic. Many attempted to continue their normal routines, but all of society was based on the pretense of thought having a purpose. The academies were filled with the hated lies, and everything revolved around the academies. All entertainment industries, the entire structure of social relations - even food, somehow. It was all so much more hollow than nothingness.
Things never got better, until the death rate so greatly exceeded the birth rate that the human race died off.
A few million years later, some bunnies decided to evolve. While exploring, they stumbled upon the long abandoned Exposition. They laughed at the irony and then went outside to play the Toss-a-Melon-and- Yodel-like-Crazy game they loved so dearly.