‘⁠The evil spirit of Yambuy⁠’ and faith in the electron

One of the first discoveries engineering students make is that you have to believe in the electron. It might look like a quirk of the profession or the curriculum, but the film based on engineer Fedoseyev’s novella shows that faith in the electron is a particular case of the collision between cosmic chaos and the human need for order.

The unknown is unbearable. That is why an enraged Zeus hurls lightning bolts, why the spirit of a slain bear must be confused so that it will not return for vengeance, and why electrons exist. After all, any crutch is better than a paralyzing unknown. So the evil spirit of Yambuy becomes an Evenk guide, then a rogue bear, then a man⁠-⁠eating bear, then a man⁠-⁠eating bear — but a different one. In reality, though, the evil spirit of Yambuy was always just a particular case of the collision between cosmic chaos and the human need for order — the very collision in which faith in the electron is born.