After concluding the Grand Unified Theory, the theoretical physicist Ding Yi calculated the exact moment, in which the expansion of the universe will reverse and change into a contraction.
The colleague gets angry and lectures Ding Yi, that fathers with a massive effect on our lives are more important than the color of some frequencies changing, not affecting us at all.
[2] Paul Di Filippo, writing in the Locus Magazine, claims that "despite its one-note gimmicky core", the short story is an "effectively mind-bending tale dealing with the unforeseen fallout from cosmological reversals of interstellar expansion.
"[3] Nicole Beck, writing in Strange Horizons, states that "the characterization often falls back on stereotype" and that the short story "drives home the idea that knowledge is a special ability that gives characters security in the most extreme situations."
She thinks that this "suggests that intelligence and the ability to acquire knowledge are perhaps the greatest currency anyone can possess" and that "whether or not one agrees, it is a thought-provoking idea.