The Egg (2009 short story)

"The Egg" is a short story by American writer Andy Weir,[1] originally published on his website Galactanet on August 15, 2009.[2] It is Weir's most popular short story, and has been translated into over 30 languages by readers.[3]

This article is about the 2009 short story by Andy Weir. For the 1956 short story by L. Sprague de Camp, see The Egg (1956 short story).
"The Egg"
AuthorAndy Weir
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Published inGalactanet
Media typeOnline
Publication dateAugust 15, 2009

Summary

The story is about the main character, who is "you" (in the second person), and God, who is "me" (in the first person). You, a 48-year-old man who dies in a car crash, meet the narrator, who says that you have been reincarnated many times before, and that you are next to be reincarnated as a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD. God then explains that you are, in fact, constantly reincarnated across time, and that all human beings who have ever lived and will ever live are incarnations of you. You remark about being Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler and Jesus, and God adds that you were also once John Wilkes Booth, every Holocaust victim and every person who followed Jesus. God explains that in fact there are other Godlike beings elsewhere, and that you too will one day become a God. The entire universe was created as an egg for the main character (all of humanity), and once you have lived every human life ever, you will be born as a God. The reason God created the universe was for the main character, you, to understand this point: "Every time you victimized someone...you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you."

The rapper Logic used "The Egg" as inspiration for his album Everybody released in 2017, re-imagined in the interlude track "Waiting Room" and featuring Neil DeGrasse Tyson as God.[4][5]

In honor of the story's ten-year anniversary, the popular YouTube channel Kurzgesagt made an animation based on the story with Weir's permission, released on September 1, 2019.[6]

See also

References
  1. Hadi, Shana E. (2017-10-17). "Cracking open Andy Weir's 'The Egg'". The Stanford Daily. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  2. "The Egg". Goodreads. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  3. Weir, Andy (2014). "Creative Writings of Andy Weir". Galactanet.
  4. Pearce, Sheldon (2017-05-12). "Logic: Everybody". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  5. "Logic's "Waiting Room" An Outstanding Reimagining of A Classic Short Story". Inside the Rift. Archived from the original on 2017-05-15. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  6. "The Egg". YouTube. Kurzgesagt. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
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