"What If—" is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

by American writer

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

, first published in the Summer 1952 issue of ''

Fantastic The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces. Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, characte ...

'' and reprinted in the 1969 collection ''

Nightfall and Other Stories ''Nightfall and Other Stories'' (1969) is a collection of 20 previously published science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov. Asimov added a brief introduction to each story, explaining some aspect of the story's history and/or how it came t ...

''. The story was inspired by the author's wife who, during a car journey they were taking from New York to Boston, asked him where he got his story ideas. Before they arrived, Isaac had thought of a plot based on the journey.Asimov, I. (1979) ''In Memory Yet Green'', (Avon 1980 edition), pp. 611–612

Plot summary

A married couple is traveling on a train from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. They meet a mysterious silent man known only as Mister If, who shows them a small portable

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

-like device about in size. (Mr. If's first name is implied to be What, but whether this is true or not is left to the reader.) On the device's screen, Mr. If shows the couple scenes from their earlier lives and what might have happened if certain minor but pivotal events had not occurred. Eventually they learned that even if the pivotal event wouldn't occur, the result would eventually be the same.

Background

The theme of major events being altered by relatively minor changes would recur in Asimov's 1955 novel ''

The End of Eternity ''The End of Eternity'' is a 1955 science fiction novel by Isaac Asimov with mystery and thriller elements on the subjects of time travel and social engineering. Its premise is that of a causal loop, a type of temporal paradox in which event ...

'' and his 1958 short story "

Spell My Name with an S "Spell My Name with an S" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the January 1958 (and only) issue of ''Star Science Fiction'' under the title "S as in Zebatinsky", and was reprinted in the ...

Similar devices in subsequent fiction

The story's theme and idea has been used in two episodes of the animated television series ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...

'': "

Anthology of Interest "Anthology of Interest I" is episode sixteen in season two of ''Futurama''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 21, 2000. This episode, as well as the later "Anthology of Interest II", serves to showcase three "imag ...

" and "

Anthology of Interest II "Anthology of Interest II" is the 18th episode of ''Futurama''s Futurama (season 3), third season . It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United States on January 6, 2002. This episode, as well as the earlier "Ant ...

". Professor Farnsworth demonstrates a 'What If—' machine similar to Mr. If's. A similar idea has also occurred in "

Turn Left "Turn Left" is the eleventh episode of the Doctor Who (series 4), fourth series of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was written by showrunner Russell T Davies and broadcast on BBC One on 21 June 2008. David Tennant on ...

", a Series Four episode of the television series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. Neil Gaiman wrote a short story called "The Wedding Present" as introduction for the collection "

Smoke and Mirrors Smoke and mirrors is a classic technique in magical illusions that makes an entity appear to hover in empty space. It was documented as early as 1770 and spread widely after its use by the charlatan Johann Georg Schröpfer, who claimed the appa ...

". In this story, a couple receives as a wedding present a stack of paper sheets relating what could have happened during their to-come life in common. The 1998 British-American romantic

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

Sliding Doors A sliding door is a type of door which opens horizontally by sliding, usually horizontal to a wall. Sliding doors can be mounted either on top of a track below or be suspended from a track above. Some types slide into a space in the parallel w ...

'' is based on a similar idea. The film alternates between two parallel universes, based on the two paths the central character's life could take depending on whether or not she catches a train, and causing different outcomes in her life.

References

External links

*
"What If—"
on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Short stories by Isaac Asimov 1952 short stories Works originally published in Fantastic (magazine) {{1950s-fantasy-story-stub