"The Egg" by Andy Weir

By:  Marcus Johansen

Andy Weir is a relatively unknown author, and it seems that he wants to remain anonymous. His novels and stories have been published; however he himself has remained unheard of. There are little or no information on his life. His stories have very interesting subject, for example “The Egg”

“The Egg” touches upon a sensitive subject, the afterlife. The afterlife is a touchy subject because we still do not know if we loose consciousness when we die or not. Weir scratches the surface of an untouched theory, instead of explaining the afterlife through religion, he focuses on a more bizarre and philosophical theory, exterminating time itself. Reading the story would be highly recommended, as for this article Weir’s ideas will be analyzed and discussed.

The idea of an afterlife has always been haunting our minds, as people we often fear the unknown, especially the unknown in which we can’t explain. As often as it happens and as casual as it is, death is still feared. Dying has its many mysteries, what happens? Where do we go? Is there an afterlife? Through time many have tried to explain it, mostly through religion. That is what makes Weir’s story unique, religion isn’t mentioned once, and he doesn’t claim that one thing is neither right nor wrong. He raises the idea of reincarnation; however he doesn’t side with the many upon many whom believe in it, but puts his own twist to it. In “The Egg” the afterlife is not an afterlife.

Now you are most likely wonder, “what does he mean by that?”

Well, with the elimination of time, in theory, everyone could be the same person, with different lives and minds. So technically the afterlife would just be another life; over and over again. “There is no such thing as time, only clocks” This idea is very hard to put down in stone; it is a mind blowing theory. Of course it is just a fictional short story. But what if? Who is to say that a theory proclaimed in a short story is any less relevant than the theory of, let’s say a Heaven and Hell. 

The moral of the story is to be open-minded. Now, we don’t know what the afterlife will unfold, or even if there is an afterlife. We can’t prove nor disprove any theories, because there is simply no evidence. We have not even begun to scratch the surface about death, other than myths and beliefs through religion and storytelling like Weir does so well in his short story. In my own opinion I believe that doubt is a virtue, question everything be like Weir, create and share. For all we know, the theory of an eight year old might be right! Who knows!