big dumb object

A term used in discussing science fiction, a Big Dumb Object (BDO) is a mysterious artifact (usually alien) in a story which generates an intense sense of wonder just by being there; to a certain extent, the term deliberately deflates this. J.G. Ballard's short story, "Report on an Unidentified Space Station" (1982) is an exploration of the metaphor of the BDO: in each succcessive report, the artifact's estimated size increases, people get lost within it, and the reader eventually realises that the mysterious abandoned artifact is the Universe itself. Big Dumb Objects in science fiction include:

Iain M. Banks' Excession
Greg Bear's Thistledown asteroid-starship in Eon
Algis Budrys' Killing Machine found on the Moon in Rogue Moon
Arthur C. Clarke's monolith in
Arthur C. Clarke's Rama
Peter F. Hamilton's Sleeping God in The Night's Dawn Trilogy
Fred Hoyle's Black Cloud
Michael Crichton's Sphere in Sphere
Alistair Reynold's Cerberus/Hades in Revelation Space
Bob Shaw's Orbitsville, and many other Dyson spheres
Charles Sheffield's Heritage Universe.
Clifford D. Simak's abandoned machine-world in Limiting Factor (1949)
The Vorlon "thirdspace gate" in the Babylon 5 television movie Thirdspace
Though it is not an object per se, perhaps the river in the Riverworld books by Philip Jos Farmer.

Big Dumb Object

See also