YASID - quantum physics, maybe Asimov

[Michael F. Stemper]

In a comment on a recent video[1] by physicist Sabine Hossenfelder,
somebody says:

It reminds me of an Asimov short story: particle physicists kept
discovering smaller and smaller particles. A graduate student
proved it was an infinite progression and got his PhD - in
theology.

Does anybody remember an Asimov story like this? I've probably
read the majority of his short stories, but it doesn't sound at
all familiar. I'll admit that it sounds like something Asimov
could have written.

[1] <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHR-ggwafO8>
--
Michael F. Stemper
Psalm 94:3-6

[Robert Woodward]

In article <t43r3c$r54$1...@dont-email.me>,

The only short story I remember that had to do with ever smaller
(actually more fundamental as in particles that make up the particles
that make up quarks, and so forth further down) had to do with the
problem that discovering these new particles required ever more
expensive test equipment (an induced stellar explosion might had been
mentioned). I don't remember who the author was.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
—-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robe...@drizzle.com

[Lynn McGuire]

Didn't Asimov publish about 300 books, more nonfiction than fiction ?

Lynn

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <t43r3c$r54$1...@dont-email.me>,
Michael F. Stemper <michael...@gmail.com> wrote:

>In a comment on a recent video[1] by physicist Sabine Hossenfelder,
>somebody says:
>
> It reminds me of an Asimov short story: particle physicists kept
> discovering smaller and smaller particles. A graduate student
> proved it was an infinite progression and got his PhD - in
> theology.
>
>Does anybody remember an Asimov story like this? I've probably
>read the majority of his short stories, but it doesn't sound at
>all familiar. I'll admit that it sounds like something Asimov
>could have written.
>

I do remember the story. And yes it does sound like something Asimov
might have done, but other than confirming that it exists, I have nothing
to add, and isfdb seems to be down right now.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <t4404s$5e9$1...@dont-email.me>,

I'm not sure of the number, but more than 200.

He remarked somewhere* that writing nonfiction was easier than
writing fiction, because fiction had to be Made Up, whereas he
already knew everything in nonfiction. Which, considering his
eidetic memory, may have been no more than the truth.

ISTR he grouped mysteries with nonfiction, because the mysteries
he wrote were all based on real-word facts that he already knew
but no one in the story did, until Henry the waiter looked it up.

_____
*I may have it saved to disk somewhere; if I can find it I'll
quote it. It was followed by other posts wherein various people
claimed fiction was easier because you could just make things up.

Whereupon someone retorted "But then David [Friedman] will say
your economy won't work and [somebody else will say something
else won't work], and Graydon will say something profound that
you don't understand...]" I've got to find that file.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <rAuun...@kithrup.com>,

---------

Found it. This was posted in 2016.

Subject: Re: What is easier to write - real world SF, or imaginary world SF?

In article <nmh7b7$cic$2...@dont-email.me>,
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>
> I write both SF and Fantasy at the same speed... when writing. But for
>SF, I have tons of research that I have to do in order to make sure that
>geeks reading it don't whine "but but but PHYSICS! Reaction Mass! LAWS
>OF THERMODYNAMICS!".

So I said,

I hear you. Most fortunately, I am married to a guy who knows
most of that stuff and if he doesn't, will calculate it and/or
look it up in the Chemical Rubber Handbook, whereof he owns more
than one copy.

[Sea Wasp continued]

>For Fantasy, I don't need to worry about the
>whining geeks telling me I'm just wrong, but I *do* have to construct an
>entire consistent world using different laws, and I know that ANOTHER
>set of geeks will be asking annoying questions like "but in Book 1 you
>said that Whatsamages work by THIS principle, but in book 5 they're
>using THAT principle..."

So I said,

Yup. And the worst part is, the consistency geeks have *just
finished reading* the book that was published last year after you
wrote it four or five years ago. It's like asking an actor, "Do
you remember that scene where you ... ?" but he doesn't, because
he didn't watch the DVD last night the way you did.

Then Brian Scott said,

From b.s...@csuohio.edu Mon Jul 18 09:59:58 PDT 2016

[quoting Wasp]

> For Fantasy, I don't need to worry about the whining
> geeks telling me I'm just wrong,

Sure you do: David F. will tell you that your economy can't
work, I'll tell you that your names make no sense at all,
and Graydon will have some societal objection that turns
out to be profound once you figure out exactly what it is!

> but I *do* have to construct an entire consistent world
> using different laws, and I know that ANOTHER set of
> geeks will be asking annoying questions like "but in
> Book 1 you said that Whatsamages work by THIS principle,
> but in book 5 they're using THAT principle..."

[Michael F. Stemper]

Over 500.


--
Michael F. Stemper
Exodus 22:21

[Lynn McGuire]

Got a list ?

Thanks,
Lynn

[The Horny Goat]

This work?
http://www.asimovonline.com/oldsite/asimov_titles.html

Now this is only books - doesn't include shorter works which are
likely to have been anthologized elsewhere not necessary in all-Asimov
anthologies

[Kevrob]

I'd have to do research on that number, as quite a few were edited or co-edited by IA,
and might have Asimov-written introductions to the whole or to parts of those books.

https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Books_by_Isaac_Asimov

--
Kevin R

[Sjouke Burry]

Nice list.
Saved.

[Lynn McGuire]

Excellent ! I have two of his non-fiction books. Somewhere.

Thanks,
Lynn

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <t46pu2$nq2$2...@dont-email.me>,

Alas, no. Just this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Complete_Stories_(Asimov)

[Quadibloc]

On Sunday, April 24, 2022 at 11:50:53 AM UTC-6, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

> I do remember the story. And yes it does sound like something Asimov
> might have done, but other than confirming that it exists, I have nothing
> to add, and isfdb seems to be down right now.

I suspect, though, that Asimov is not the one who wrote that particular
story. I could be wrong, but I know I read a lot of his short stories, and
nothing like that was among them.

John Savard

[Michael F. Stemper]

For most authors, I'd use the author page at ISFDB. But, since
we're talking about somebody with a vast non-genre output, I
searched on "Isaac Asimov over 500 books", which led me to:

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov_bibliography_(categorical)>
and
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov_bibliography_(chronological)>


--
Michael F. Stemper
Economists have correctly predicted seven of the last three recessions.

[The Horny Goat]

On Mon, 25 Apr 2022 15:35:26 -0500, Lynn McGuire

He did a 3 volume series on physics way back when. I remember reading
it at age 12-13 back in the late 60s. Great series for a keener kid
highly interested in chemistry and wanting more

[Stephen Harker]

I can recall a story that matches, I am not sure it was by Asimov.
However, it was in Analog, probably from the 1980's or 1990's. I don't
have time during the working week to go through my collection. If it is
not identified I will try on the weekend.

--
Stephen Harker sjha...@netspace.net.au
was: http://sjharker.customer.netspace.net.au/
now: http://members.iinet.net.au/~sjha...@netspace.net.au/
or: http://members.iinet.net.au/~sjharker_nbn/

[Charles Packer]

The curator of that list, Ed Seiler, was my one-time office-mate
at NASA. I lost track of him after we were subsequently assigned
to different projects.

[Stephen Harker]

Stephen Harker <sjha...@netspace.net.au> writes:

> "Michael F. Stemper" <michael...@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On 25/04/2022 13.40, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>>> On 4/24/2022 3:06 PM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
>>>> On 24/04/2022 12.07, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>>>>> On 4/24/2022 10:41 AM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
>>>>>> In a comment on a recent video[1] by physicist Sabine Hossenfelder,
>>>>>> somebody says:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>    It reminds me of an Asimov short story: particle physicists kept
>>>>>>    discovering smaller and smaller particles. A graduate student
>>>>>>    proved it was an infinite progression and got his PhD - in
>>>>>>    theology.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Does anybody remember an Asimov story like this? I've probably
>>>>>> read the majority of his short stories, but it doesn't sound at
>>>>>> all familiar. I'll admit that it sounds like something Asimov
>>>>>> could have written.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> [1] <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHR-ggwafO8>
>

> I can recall a story that matches, I am not sure it was by Asimov.
> However, it was in Analog, probably from the 1980's or 1990's. I don't
> have time during the working week to go through my collection. If it is
> not identified I will try on the weekend.

The story I was thinking of is Quiddities, by Ray Brown, Analog, March
1983, pp 92--113. It matches the key points of the description above.

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?49387

It is not listed as being in any collection or anthology.

[Michael F. Stemper]

On 30/04/2022 20.17, Stephen Harker wrote:

>>>>>> On 4/24/2022 10:41 AM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
>>>>>>> In a comment on a recent video[1] by physicist Sabine Hossenfelder,
>>>>>>> somebody says:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>    It reminds me of an Asimov short story: particle physicists kept
>>>>>>>    discovering smaller and smaller particles. A graduate student
>>>>>>>    proved it was an infinite progression and got his PhD - in
>>>>>>>    theology.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Does anybody remember an Asimov story like this?

> The story I was thinking of is Quiddities, by Ray Brown, Analog, March
> 1983, pp 92--113. It matches the key points of the description above.
>
> http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?49387
>
> It is not listed as being in any collection or anthology.

Thanks for the followup!