The nine billion names of God
by Arthur C. Clarke · first published 1967
42% recommend54% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Short sci-fi story about Tibetan monks using a computer to list the names of God, praised for its quick read, clever premise and a magnificent, moving ending. Suits readers wanting short, idea-driven fiction.
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one of my favorite sci-fi short stories is The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke http://downlode.org/Etext/nine_billion_names_of_god.html
on “The Secret Number” ↗Let's see: Cory Doctorow's Unauthorized Bread and Walkaway, Arthur C. Clarke's The Nine Billion Names of God and The City and the Stars.
on “Hard comp-fi reading list” ↗Arguably The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke. Feeling of Power by Asimov probably also fits in the vein. I fid it interesting that Chiang ends up in so many recent short story lists. It seems as if there are fewer recent short…
…Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expected you to believe. And Arthur C Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names of God" (no spoiler, but the ending is magnificent)
on “The Metaphysical Can Opener” ↗* Asimov - Spell My Name With An S - http://www.eco.uc3m.es/~pgomes/2-Personal/Asimov,%20Isaac%20... * Clarke - The Nine Billion names of God - http://downlode.org/Etext/nine_billion_names_of_god.html
on “The Egg” ↗Read the Nine Billion Names of God, by Arthur C Clarke, for a reason why they might have been counting. http://www.sffaudio.com/podcasts/TheNineBillionNamesOfGodByA...
on “Mapping with the stars: Nuns instrumental in Vatican celestial survey” ↗Asimov's "The Last Question". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Question https://www.multivax.com/last_question.html Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names of God" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Billion_Names_of_God https://urbigenous.net/library/nine_billion_names_of_god.htm... Dick's "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Remember_It_for_You_Who...…
on “Ask HN: What's a favorite short story of yours?” ↗The Egg: http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html Also Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names of God" from the answer below, not read that in years, or any of Clarke's/Asimov's.
on “Ask HN: What's a favorite short story of yours?” ↗Not really! These two ideas have been banging around in my head for almost a decade now and I thought I ought to get them down. A big inspiration for the second story is the short story "The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C Clarke.
on “The Experiment: Two Short Stories” ↗Surprised they didn't seek the answer in another work of classic science fiction: The Nine Billion Names of God - https://lecturia.org/en/short-stories/arthur-c-clarke-the-ni...
on “Let's kill the universe” ↗Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Billion_Names_of_God
on “Dang is going to have 65,535 karma points soon” ↗I recommend The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke. https://urbigenous.net/library/nine_billion_names_of_god.htm...
on “They're Made Out of Meat” ↗Related, I highly recommend the short story The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke. https://hex.ooo/library/nine_billion_names_of_god.html
on “X-ray scans reveal Buddhist prayers inside tiny Tibetan scrolls” ↗…actual fiction, like "The Laundry Archives" (where computation can summon demons), "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" (about raising children AI), "The Last Question" (short story from Asimov) or "The Nine Billion Names of God" (about monks buying a computer for religious purposes). All of the above are highly recommended, by the way.
on “Six works of Computer Science-Fiction” ↗From “The Nine Billion Names of God“ by [edit, wrong: Isaac Asimov]. Almost made me cry the first time I read those last lines.
on “A 5km Asteroid May Briefly Occult the Brightest Star in the Night Sky” ↗