The Nine Billion Names Of God Analysis

Improved Essays
Arthur C. Clarke couldn’t have chosen a better title for this brilliant science fiction short story. I’m a sucker for a story with a good title. “The Nine Billion Names of God" revolves around Tibetan Buddhist monks who plan to put together a list that consists of all the names of God. The story opens with Dr. Wagner-- he is asked to work on an automatic sequence computer (Mark V.) that can carry out letters by the lama. They need a computer with letters, so they can write the names of God. Obviously, a computer with only numbers won’t be able to carry it out the task. One of the engineers hired by the lama for three months to work on the computer soon figures out what happens once the Tibetan Buddhist monks type down the last name of God. The world ends. That’s pretty much a stock theme in science fiction typically dealing with post-apocalyptic or apocalyptic settings/issues. Nevertheless, eschatology is a common theme in “The Nine Billion Names of God."
***
The conflict is Chuck nor George want to face any blame if what the monks believed that would happen didn’t come to fruition. I liked this part of the story most for a multitude
…show more content…
It’s less to do with technology and more to with society. The setting is a utopia because there is no crime or violence. “The king of the world,” or mischief-maker which is referring to the main character who can do whatever he wants. He is a persona non-grata. People can sense when he is coming because of his odor. They also ignore his existence. The theme is loneliness. He isn’t the king of the world,” he is only king in his world. No sympathy here because the narrator took advantage of this as could be seen in the beginning when he stole a car, harassed the blonde. Plus, he killed his girlfriend and that’s why he is being treated this way in the first place. He wasn’t supposed to commit violence against another person and he did. So is it really a utopia for the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    An Imperfect God Analysis

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Taylor Smith 10/15/14 History 4090 The Conflicted Mind of George Washington An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. By Henry Wiencek. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. Pp. 404.)…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    However, no hope lies in a world without freedom. In The Giver and The Truman Show, readers and viewers are introduced with a sharp contradiction, dystopia. The dystopias presented in both the film and the novel evenly picture no freedom whatsoever. Both The Giver and The Truman Show have a controller, an all mighty force who regulates every facet of their dystopia. In the novel, this dystopia is the Giver, the force who does not let his citizens have freedom of thought and alienates them from the remainder of the world.…

    • 1578 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 4 Works Cited
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the first chapter of God’s Many-Splendored Image, the theme of freedom is obvious because that is the title of the chapter. Being free implies that we are like God, and God does not have a limitation of freedom, so we don’t either. On the same note, mental/spiritual freedom turns out to be more valuable than the physical that most adore. Human freedom does allow us to choose, due to the fact that we are divine beings made in God’s image, and that we can determine the mental happenings in a hard situation. Harrison starts out by conversing about how people wondered how much freedom they really had.…

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    One Day Feed Analysis

    • 214 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Technology just in a short time period has evolved rapidly. Advances in technology make it quite possible one day Feed could be a reality. Foreshowing events displayed in the book suggests that may not be best for the human race. The complexity of the technology enables the character to be lazy, and creates an unequal social status, and causes many problems to the environment. Technology was a wonderful tool to change and alleviate some challenges faced, but ultimately caused the erosion of their society.…

    • 214 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Americans and people all over the world use technology in most aspects of their day to day lives, but it’s not all that beneficial. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, his characters are overwhelmed by the use of technology. Electronics overpower the world and take over people’s thoughts. People don’t take time away from watching TV, listening to “seashells”, or calling others to enjoy the little things in life. The time that they could be spending with family or friends is replaced with technology.…

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everyone desires a perfect world, yet they cannot get it. This is shown in Kurt Vonnegut’s “2B0N2B” as everyone hides his or her problems in this “utopia” world established in the short story. Vonnegut in “2BR02B” establishes a theme that there is no such thing as a utopia by using imagery and conflicts. The story opens up to the world being as it says, “… was perfectly swell.”…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Need For Imperfections In the novel, Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, he introduces a utopian society where everyone is happy and have a blind eye on what the World State makes them believe. Imagine a society where there are no imperfections, everyone is the same, nobody is different, you live a privileged life and always happy. The cost is never possessing individuality and gambling where only the top classes enjoy such a lifestyle. Social stability guarantees perfection and everything being under control whereas in real life society there is corruption, greed, famine, and disease in existence in which makes the World State seem as a better and improved society that fulfills the wants and desires and carries society with an easier…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion” is a philosophical work written by David Hume. In this book, he proceeds to consult and provide arguments in favor of God’s existence. All of his arguments are supported with premises spoken through the philosophers in his book (this esay on Cleanthes’s argument). In his argument, Cleanthes clams that the universe is a complex machine which has a plethora of ‘natural’ machines. These machines, both human and natural, all have a mans of working towards a common end.…

    • 1772 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “One believes things because one has conditioned to believe them,” (Huxley 158). The constant growth of technology and science is prevalent all throughout Brave New World which has caused much destruction for the citizens of World State. Advancement of technology comes off as an amazing scientific achievement but a technology and science based utopia is not a utopia, but rather the opposite. Brave New World is dominated by government with a large amount of power due to science which will later cause destruction for both the citizens living in the World State but also the government itself. In Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World, science and technology has put an effect on the idea of family, the way religion and art is perceived, and the true…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Our humanity predicates on the principle that individuals’ freedom and originality coexist adamantly with different human beings’ relations and uniqueness, yet we often ostracize human beings’ individuality. Similarly, we can adversely pinpoint how our society’s persistent conformity to one ideal of a human being relates to the Utopian society’s conformity of individuality presented in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. We divulge the inhumane isolation of humane emotions in the novel, yet we are conducting the very same principles to human beings who express their true individuality. Consequently, the aspects that define a humane individual appear in the novel’s character, John the Savage who represents the forgotten world of true humanity.…

    • 1333 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The book God 's Big Picture is a 167-page book written by Vaughan Roberts and published by IVP Books. The sub title to this book is “Tracing the story line of the Bible”. I believe Roberts does a fair job at accomplishing this task. The key to tracing the story line of the bible is to look at it outside the box and in big picture view hence the title.…

    • 2502 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Thomas More Poverty

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Through Utopia, Sir Thomas More gave the leaders of his time key insights to help improve his world by stating that leaders should not use poverty to control their people. Utopia states that, “it is wrong to think that the poverty of the people is a safeguard of public peace.” By this, More means that people should not be dependent on the government. A leader should not keep his people in poverty, as it benefits nobody other than the leader, who can hold control over said people dependent on him. Poverty risks “public peace” by increasing the chances of people committing crime, as they have much to gain and nothing to lose.…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In contemporary society, many individuals believe that new trends, technologies, and philosophies are for a better tomorrow; however, they fail to see the potential dangers of these advancements. Observing a theme from Brave New World that correlates with the article, “Is Your Technology Use Hurting Your Kids?”, one can say that a majority of progressions in society have detrimental effects on communities worldwide. A novel that describes an entire world state that eliminates truth and freedom in exchange for happiness and social stability certainly raises questions among readers about what kind of place they live in today. Denying people the right to decide how they live and feel is an idea that would most likely result in absolute rejection,…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In 1932, Europe encountered a huge chaos due to the Great Depression originated from America. Homeless people were everywhere and middle classes were facing bankruptcy. Governments’ power were declining; therefore, people sought for a more competent government. A 38-year old British man, Aldous Huxley, was worried. Inspired by the invention of the first Ford Car, he thought such government would rule with a high-tech method instead of military to save countries from corrupting.…

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The World House Analysis

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It is logical that if the human race allows technology to take over without common sense or thinking a situation through before we use it, the outcome will not be a good end result. However, King uses ethos, his credibility is what motivates people to think of this situation logically and act upon it. Yet, despite the aforementioned perspective, King mostly utilizes ethos in his lecture But, regardless of which appeal dominates the text, the most significant aspect of his piece is the inevitable fact that if people allow technology and inequality to take over their actions instead of thinking things through, the world will come into an end. King…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays