Some homuncululi may have been injured in the production of this banana peel based construction material

August 4, 2010 5:24 PM

Help me identify a dimly remembered short story... A scientist has created or evolved a race of tiny super intelligent creatures. By setting cruel puzzles for them (such as a descending weight that threatens to crush them) he gets them to invent things for him, one of which was a super strong material made out of banana peel. It most likely ends badly for the scientist.
posted by Artw to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

Best answer: Theodore Sturgeon, The Microcosmic God?
posted by strangely stunted trees at 5:30 PM on August 4, 2010

Best answer: It wasn't the Microcosmic God, was it?
posted by plinth at 5:30 PM on August 4, 2010

Response by poster: Hmm...

"He got messing around with sisal fiber, found out how to fuse it, and boomed the banana industry by producing a practically unbreakable cord from the stuff."

Looks like that's it. Damn you people are good.
posted by Artw at 5:38 PM on August 4, 2010

also, data point about Theodore (from wiki) :

"In 1951, Sturgeon coined what is now known as Sturgeon's Law: 'Ninety percent of SF [science fiction] is crud, but then, ninety percent of everything is crud.' This was originally known as Sturgeon's Revelation; Sturgeon has said that 'Sturgeon's Law' was originally 'Nothing is always absolutely so.' However, the former statement is now widely referred to as Sturgeon's Law."
posted by radiosilents at 6:18 PM on August 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you want a cheap used paperback with that story, plus a lot of good other old SF, I can recommend Giants Unleashed.
posted by fings at 7:34 PM on August 4, 2010

FWIW: "Microcosmic God" was the basis for the "Genesis Tub" sequence in the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror VII episode.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:32 PM on August 9, 2010