by Mark Dykeman

Created on: November 10, 2009

The Nine Billion Names of God is a celebrated science fiction short story written by reknowned author Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Written in 1953, this short story has been collected several times, including within Volume 1 of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame. The story was the 2004 winner of the retrospective Hugo Award for Best Short Story for the year 1954. This article is a short story review of Clarke's famous short story.

The plot of this story is fairly simple. A group of lamas wishes to write all of the possible names of God within their holy books. They purchase a computer to help them complete the job much more quickly than they can when writing by hand. The story focuses on two technicians who help deliver, assemble, and start the computer for the lamas. Before they finish their job, they discover that the monks have pursued this project in order to bring about the end of the universe, which they see as their holy duty. Writing down all possible names will fulfill humanity's purpose, and God's plan for the human race, and so there will be no need for the universe to continue on. The computer finally finishes generating the nine billion names of God and we see the results of the end of their project.

The key feature of this story is the clash between technology (or science) and religion. At the time that the story was written, the computer was beginning to revolutionize both data processing and, later, publishing. The worldly, cynical computer technicians look down upon the seemingly backward and simple lamas who are pursuing what seems to be a pointless quest to bring about the end of the universe. It seems like a superstitious piece on nonsense to the technicians, who are clearly in the camp of logic and science.

The irony of the conclusion of the story is two-fold:

1. The primitive lamas turn out to be correct and their mystical plan achieves its desired end.

2. Technology helps mysticism achieve its ends much more quickly than manual effort would do and it works just as well.

This is a fairly short story of just over six pages, making it a quick and easy read with one of the most elegant, even poetic, endings in any short story. The Nine Billion Names of God is fully deserving of the title "classic" and is a must read for any serious science fiction fan.

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