theory of everything

[skrzat]

(edited by Terminus on 17.04.2006).

This thread targets to specify if and when did Lem describe 'theory of everything' in connection to Ijon Tichy's voyages. Probably the theory was invented by one of Tichy's relatives.

[Miesław]

It comes from 28'th journey.
His name was Jeremiasz Tichy. It is a short part of this chapter. He decided to create 'General Theory of Everything' while he was nine. He was a bit strange (like all Ijon Tichy's greatfathers   ).He was setting traps for postman (only 1,5 m deep hole and skeletons). People accused him of beating computers...  He spent all his life trying to create this theory, but he didn't manage to do this- probably because computers weren't good enough. There isn't more about it in "Star diaries". Maybe in another book.
I can give you here a part of this chapter, but only in polish. I'm not good enough in English.

[Terminus]

Hi Boss. Well, we're talking about Jeremiah Tichy, Ijon's grandfather who tried to create the Theory of Everything.
He encountered certain dificulties, and if I'm not wrong, evenutally failed. However, this can be found in detail in "28th voyage" of The Star Diaries.

As far as I know, this Voyage was first published in 1966.

Best Regards
Terminus

[Metalist]

According to a Russian resource www.lib.ru, the 28th voyage was indeed published in 1966.

http://www.lib.ru/LEM/lemit28.txt

M