The Nine Billion Names Of God Analysis

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."
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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