{"id":4439,"date":"2018-11-16T08:02:23","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T16:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4439"},"modified":"2018-11-16T08:02:23","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T16:02:23","slug":"the-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4439","title":{"rendered":"The Answer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fredric Brown was a master of the short story including what is probably the shortest published science fiction short story:<\/p>\n

“The last man on Earth sat alone in a room.<\/em>
\n There was a knock at the door…”<\/em><\/p>\n

The Aswer considers the question “Is there a God?”<\/p>\n

I have include the version from\u00a0\u201cFrom These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown\u201d\u00a0 and the version\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0from Baen\u2019s short story collection \u201cIf This Goes Wrong\u201d edited by Hank Davis.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This is the version of the story from \u201cFrom These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown\u201d\u00a0 Nesfa Press 2001<\/p>\n

Dwan Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the subether bore throughout the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing.<\/p>\n

The switch that would connect, all at once, all of the monster computing machines of all the populated planets in the universe \u2014 ninety-six billion planets \u2014 into the supercircuit that would connect them all into one supercalculator, one cybernetics machine that would combine all the knowledge of all the galaxies.<\/p>\n

He takes a moment to regard the trillions of viewers, eyes glued to their screens for this momentous occasion. And then he throws the switch.<\/p>\n

There was a mighty hum, the surge of power from ninety-six billion planets. Lights flashed and quieted along the miles-long panel.<\/p>\n

As the machine whirs into life, Dwar Ev steps back and offers the first question to his partner, Dwar Reyn.<\/p>\n

“Thank you,” said Dwar Reyn. “It shall be a question which no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer.”<\/p>\n

He turned to face the machine. “Is there a God?”<\/p>\n

Without a moment’s hesitation, the mighty voice answers him:<\/p>\n

“Yes,\u00a0now<\/em>\u00a0there is a God.”<\/p>\n

Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch.<\/p>\n

A bolt of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch shut.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Answer <\/strong>by Fredric Brown<\/p>\n

This is the version from Baen\u2019s short story collection \u201cIf This Goes Wrong\u201d edited by Hank Davis.<\/p>\n

Dwan Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the subether bore throughout the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing.<\/p>\n

He straightened and nodded to Dwar Reyn, then moved to a position beside the switch that would complete contact when he threw it. <\/em>The switch that would connect, all at once, all of the monster computing machines of all the populated planets in the universe \u2014 ninety-six billion planets \u2014 into the supercircuit that would connect them all into one supercalculator, one cybernetics machine that would combine all the knowledge of all the galaxies.<\/p>\n

Dwar Reyn spoke briefly to the watching and listening trillions. Then after a moments silence he said \u201c Now Dwar Ev.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dwar Ev threw the switch. There was a mighty hum, the surge of power from ninety-six billion planets. Lights flashed and quieted along the miles-long panel.<\/p>\n

Dwar Ev stepped back and drew a deep breath. The honor of asking the first question is yours Dwar Reyn.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Thank you,” said Dwar Reyn. “It shall be a question which no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer.”<\/p>\n

He turned to face the machine. “Is there a God?”<\/p>\n

The mighty voice answered without hesitation, without the clicking of a single relay.<\/p>\n

“Yes,\u00a0now<\/em>\u00a0there is a God.”<\/p>\n

Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch.<\/p>\n

A bolt of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch shut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fredric Brown was a master of the short story including what is probably the shortest published science fiction short story: “The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door…” The Aswer considers the question “Is there a God?” I have include the version from\u00a0\u201cFrom These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown\u201d\u00a0 and the version\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0from Baen\u2019s short story collection \u201cIf This Goes Wrong\u201d edited by Hank Davis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughts"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Answer - James W. 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There was a knock at the door…” The Aswer considers the question “Is there a God?” I have include the version from\u00a0\u201cFrom These Ashes: The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown\u201d\u00a0 and the version\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0from Baen\u2019s short story collection \u201cIf This Goes Wrong\u201d edited by Hank Davis.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4439\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-16T16:02:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/The-Meaning-of-Life-Math-J-232x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James W. 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