Microcosmic God
| "Microcosmic God" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Theodore Sturgeon | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Astounding Science Fiction |
| Publication type | Periodical |
| Media type | Magazine |
| Publication date | 1941 |
"Microcosmic God" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Theodore Sturgeon. Originally published in April 1941 in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction, it was recognized as one of the best science fiction short stories published before the Nebula Awards by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1970, and was named as one of the best science fiction stories in polls by Analog Science Fiction and Fact (the renamed Astounding) in 1971[1] and Locus in 1999.[2] In 1976, it was also published as a comic book version (drawn by Adolfo Buylla) in issue 3 of Starstream: Adventures in Science Fiction, a comic anthology in four issues by Gold Key Comics.[3]
Plot summary
A highly secretive and reclusive biochemist named Kidder produces inventions that transform human life, spanning every aspect of science and engineering. Kidder is a brilliant scientist, but can only take others' ideas and turn them into usable products - he cannot innovate. Consequently, he gets impatient with the slow progress of innovation by humans, and develops a synthetic life form, which he calls "Neoterics." These creatures live at a greatly accelerated rate, and therefore have a very short lifespan and produce many generations over a short period of time. Kidder asserts his authority over the Neoterics by killing off half the population of Neoterics whenever they disobey his orders. Kidder communicates with the colony via 'teletype' and this device is considered divine by the Neoterics.
Kidder's banker, Conant, who has grown immensely rich on the inventions passed on by Kidder, takes over the island on which Kidder has built his laboratory, hoping to use a Neoteric design for a new source of power to take over the world. When the banker strikes to kill Kidder and the workers who had assisted in building the power plant, Kidder asks the Neoterics to throw up an impenetrable force field.
The story ends years later. It is unknown whether or not Kidder is still alive under the shield, but it is certain that the Neoterics have continued to develop technology far in excess of anything controlled by humans.
Awards and criticism
"Microcosmic God" was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the best science fiction short stories published before the creation of the Nebula Awards. As such, it was published in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964.
The novelette was also recognized as the 13th best all-time short science fiction story in a 1971 Analog Science Fact & Fiction poll (tied with Cyril M. Kornbluth's "The Little Black Bag"),[1] and as the 42nd best all-time science fiction novelette in a 1999 Locus poll (tied with Edmond Hamilton's "What's It Like Out There?").[2]
The Neoterics make an illustrative reappearance in the 2008 management book Groundswell, developed by employees at Forrester Research: Neoterics are said to "outpace any human research lab since they try, fail, and adapt so much more quickly than ordinary slow-paced humans", and are thus presented as "apt metaphor for the current state of the Internet", where Web 2.0 technologies and the many people involved generate similarly "rapid prototyping, failure, and adaptation."[4]
John W. Campbell, the editor who bought the story for Astounding Science Fiction, wrote for its blurb, "Kidder had a system for inventing things in a hurry - and he thought he had a system for handling the results. His method was inhuman - but his agent was human - and dangerous!" Science fiction author Gene Wolfe wrote, "The first [sf] story I read was 'Microcosmic God' by Theodore Sturgeon. It has sometimes occurred to me that it has all been downhill from there."[5]
Cultural influence
Microcosmic God is an early example of the use of the 'pocket universe' concept in science fiction.[6] The concept of a microcosmic universe manipulated or created within a larger, parent universe developed by Sturgeon was later to be reconstructed in television on shows like The Twilight Zone, Simpsons, Futurama, South Park, and Rick and Morty.[7]
- The Little People (Twilight Zone, 1962)
- The Genesis Tub (from Treehouse of Horror VII, Simpsons, 1996)
- Osmosis Jones (Warner Brothers, 2001)
- Godfellas (Futurama, 2002)
- Simpsons Already Did It (South Park, 2002)
- The Ricks Must Be Crazy (Rick and Morty, 2015)
References
- ^ a b "Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll Listings". The Locus Index to SF Awards. 2008. Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
- ^ a b "Locus All-Time Poll Listings". The Locus Index to SF Awards. 2008. Archived from the original on 2006-10-23. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
- ^ STARSTREAM #3
- ^ Li, Charlene, and Josh Bernoff. Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Cambridge MA: Harvard Business Press, 2008, pp 11-12.
- ^ Sturgeon, Theodore (1995). Paul Williams (ed.). Microcosmic God: Volume II: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books. p. 357. ISBN 1-55643-213-5.
- ^ "Themes: Pocket Universe". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
- ^ Soohoo, Evann (13 December 2016). "Science Fiction- From Sturgeon to "Rick and Morty"". Medium. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
External links
- Microcosmic God title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database