Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Week 9: Space Opera

Arthur B. Clarke's "Nine Billion Names of God" begins with a disclaimer that a critic wrote if it had not been for slight contradictions of theology, people might've taken his writing as a serious claim. He responds to this critique with delight and preference to remain a "prophet with a small p".
The story begins with the lama ordering a computer in order to finish their work of recording all the names of God, a goal they've been trying to reach for centuries.
The story jumps to engineers contracted to care for the lamasery's computer until it is done with recording every name. Around the end of the job one of the engineer's greets the others and claims he's been told the reason why the monks are recording all of God's names. The monks believe that the world will end when they gather of all nine billion of God's names. Concerned that the monks will be upset with them if this isn't true they devise a way to leave before the machine is finished despite the disapproval of one of the engineers. As they are flying away, they estimate the machine must've finished its calculations and when they look to the sky the stars start to go dark.
Science and religion are commonly pitted against each other so this writing is particularly unique in that science is actually "benefiting" religion in completing its ordained purpose, though in the story its arguably not a favorable end. I think the author is proposing a "what if" science could be used as a tool to facilitate the supernatural. That technology is the next step towards godliness

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