Thursday, November 6, 2008

The last equation

"We got it! We got the proof! We made it!"
There were handshakes, hugs, cheers. Someone had tears in his eyes. Doctor Lapietra was euphoric. He seized the shoulders of Jeremy, his assistant.
"Do You realize what we have made? Do You realize?" he said.
He realized for sure. It was the completion of years of work. Better, it was the completion of countless thousand years of men's work, since the beginning of time.
The model has been completed. Up to the last law. The last equation has been discovered. Man now knows exactly how the Universe was made, from the giant galaxy to the smaller subatomic particle.
His assistant didn't seem so glad.
"Jeremy, what happens?" asked Lapietra "We have found it, that bloody equation. Now all is in its place."
Jeremy's voice was dull, like dead. "Sure. Now we know how everything is made. So we are unemployed."
Lapietra frowned. "What do you mean?"
Jeremy made a vague gesture with his hand. "Now we understand everything. We will have to write down documentation, to publish our findings, demonstrate them at meetings and conferences. Then? We are researchers, and there is nothing more to research. All has been found. We are useless. Our is a dead profession, just like biologists and farriers."
The scientist shook his head. "Don't be so dramatic! We are the highest point of history. Just think how world will change..."
The assistent stopped him. "It is from thousand years that man think to know how the world goes on. Now we are certain about it. But everyone else was already certain. The keeper at door down there don't know about our equation and will never understand it, but has lived and will live in the same way now that we have found it. My grand-grandmother believed in a thing called "universal gravitation", didn't knew about Bosgway's field, and died happy. My children will study that we have made this finding, but apart from this how will change them to know that somewhere there is someone that knows the way Universe behaves?
Lapietra opened the mouth to reply, then shut it. In the end, there was nothing else to say. It was all already said.
The scientist was thoughtful while stepping on the transferrer. He entered into his home. His wife was programming the autochef and didn't even rose her head. "Hello, dear. Everything fine at work?"
Lapietra wished to say "We found the last brick in understanding the Universe", but somehow wasn't able to speak the words.
He said instead "Yes, dear. And you?"
But his wife was already lost in what she was doing. At last she started the autochef. "Good, dear", she told. "We'll have soup this evening."
The scientist said nothing, but within him sighed. He didn't like soup.

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