Gunnerkrigg commented at 2023-07-10 13:40:31 » #2816854

Not sure if it's the same one but that sounds like a short story I read. The one where the alien planet only experiences nighttime for one night every 1 or 2 thousand years and everyone goes batshit suicidally insane when it happens because they don't understand it.

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Gunnerkrigg commented at 2023-07-10 13:50:10 » #2816856

Hey I was right, it's an Asimov story: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Nightfall1941
Turns out the quote here was from someone else entirely which is why I didn't recognize it.

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Ezalias commented at 2023-07-10 14:32:26 » #2816864

I think the quote is what inspired the story: Asimov got nerd-sniped by the absurdities we take for granted because we see them every day.

Similarly, there's a story where the moon is geosynchronous. There's a continent where every night is pitch dark beneath the milky way. They finally set sail around the globe. Months into the voyage, they're ecstatic to spot land, even though it's all dull gray and barren. Then at night - it glows. Half is already brighter than all the stars in the sky. The ship is silent. As they approach, day after day, it gets taller and rounder. A cliff. A mountain. A dome. A sphere. Impossibly large. When it lifts fully into the sky they're relieved, because they can't begin to rationalize it, so they stop trying. They don't reach the new world before strange boats surround them. Metal hulls move without wind in every direction. The sailors worry they've doomed their entire civilization, revealing themselves this way. Of course this alien culture is far ahead of them - they had more time.

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