The Indefatigable Frog
Encyclopedia
"The Indefatigable Frog" is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick
, first published in the July 1953 edition of Fantastic Story Magazine
, and later in The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick
. It has since been republished several times, including in Beyond Lies the Wub
in 1988.
The story centers around two college professors, Hardy and Grote, who argue about one of Zeno's Paradoxes
, called The dichotomy paradox, where a frog wants to get up from a well, but each jump is half of the previous one, that way, Hardy argues, the frog will never exit the well, while Grote argues the opposite: that the frog will eventually escape from the well.
The Dean of the college wants to settle this age old paradox and instructs the two professors to create an experiment with the frog. Hardy and Grote do exactly that, they send the frog down a large tube and subject it to an energy field which reduces the size of the frog in half for each leap. The frog eventually becomes so small that it disappears. Grote goes into the tube to figure out what happened, while Hardy flicks on the switch, forcing Grote down the tube. Grote is halved in size as the progresses, and the smooth floor of the tube eventually becomes huge rocks and boulders as he nears microscopic size. Grote disappears, and Hardy claims that the frog never made it across and that he was right. In the end, Grote -- and the frog -- became so small that they passed through the molecules of the tube, away from the field and back to their original size.
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
, first published in the July 1953 edition of Fantastic Story Magazine
Fantastic Story Magazine
Fantastic Story Magazine was a 1950-55 science fiction pulp magazine which merged pulp reprints with new stories.It was published on a quarterly schedule by Best Books, a subsidiary imprint of Standard Magazines. Initially priced at 25 cents, the 160-page debut issue was titled Fantastic Story...
, and later in The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick
The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick
The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick is a collection of science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. It was first published by Underwood-Miller in 1987 as a five volume set. See Philip K...
. It has since been republished several times, including in Beyond Lies the Wub
Beyond Lies the Wub (collection)
Beyond Lies the Wub is a collection of science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. It was first published by Gollancz in 1988 and reprints Volume I of The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick...
in 1988.
The story centers around two college professors, Hardy and Grote, who argue about one of Zeno's Paradoxes
Zeno's paradoxes
Zeno's paradoxes are a set of problems generally thought to have been devised by Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea to support Parmenides's doctrine that "all is one" and that, contrary to the evidence of our senses, the belief in plurality and change is mistaken, and in particular that motion is...
, called The dichotomy paradox, where a frog wants to get up from a well, but each jump is half of the previous one, that way, Hardy argues, the frog will never exit the well, while Grote argues the opposite: that the frog will eventually escape from the well.
The Dean of the college wants to settle this age old paradox and instructs the two professors to create an experiment with the frog. Hardy and Grote do exactly that, they send the frog down a large tube and subject it to an energy field which reduces the size of the frog in half for each leap. The frog eventually becomes so small that it disappears. Grote goes into the tube to figure out what happened, while Hardy flicks on the switch, forcing Grote down the tube. Grote is halved in size as the progresses, and the smooth floor of the tube eventually becomes huge rocks and boulders as he nears microscopic size. Grote disappears, and Hardy claims that the frog never made it across and that he was right. In the end, Grote -- and the frog -- became so small that they passed through the molecules of the tube, away from the field and back to their original size.