4 ms·
A Subway Named Mobius (1952)
- tapoxi 5y agoI guess OP was reading the same r/boston thread! What I enjoy about this story is that it imagines a world where the MBTA (Boston's public transit system) was so well funded to become an incredibly complex system. In reality there hasn't been significant improvement since the late 80's, and Green Line service to Forest Hills is still "temporarily" suspended.
- rob74 5y agoI was just wondering why, of all the subway systems in the world, the author would pick Boston, which as far as I can see in 1952 had all of 3 "real" subway lines plus the Green Line, which at that time was probably still a streetcar? According to Wikipedia, he didn't even have any connection to Boston...
- Morizero 5y agoThe author (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_Joseph_Deutsch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_Joseph_Deutsch) spent some time working for Harvard (which has an MBTA subway station), including as a lecturer. The story features a Harvard professor whom both explains and is ensnared by the anomaly. We write what we know.
- Morizero 5y agoThread in question: https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/p16h0z/this_fuckin_guy_teleported_onto_my_train/ https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/p16h0z/this_fuckin_...
- tw4hae 5y agofuck your mask, fuck your vax, fuck your mandates, in general fuck you
- benatkin 5y agoThere's a movie called Moebius based on this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moebius_(1996_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moebius_(1996_film)
- LostInTheWoods 5y agoPlot reminds me of Malaysia Airlines flight 370.
- Taniwha 5y agoI've always loved this story, I (incorrectly) remembered the topologist calculating that there must always be one train missing
- paulolc 5y agoI ruptured out of suspension of disbelief the moment I read "The missing persons did not return. In the large, they were no longer missed"... Really? No longer missed? 400 people disappear out of thin air and that's it. No "Thoughts and Prayers"? No middle eastern 3rd world country to wipe out of existence? Seems to me like a veeeery unrealistic waste of political leverage to gain...
- fractallyte 5y agoAlso fun, along the same lines: "And He Built a Crooked House", by Robert Heinlein (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22%E2%80%94And_He_Built_a_Crooked_House%E2%80%94%22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22%E2%80%94And_He_Built_a_Cro...)
- themadturk 5y agoI first read this delightful story (and the Heinlien story) about 1968 (my 7th grade year) in a Clifton Fadiman anthology entitled “Fantasia Mathematica.” He also edited another anthology, “The Mathematical Magpie.” I’ve always been terrible at math, but loved stories about mathematics. This book, at least, was heavy on the topology stories.