Ttyjukl

There is a series of short stories by Gordon Dickson. In one if the stories, called "Danger-Human" it describes how a human is abducted by aliens and submitted to various tests. The reason for this is that humans have, in the past, taken over the known galaxy, only to be defeated, with only seed colonies surviving. Anyhow, at the end of the story, the human somehow escapes and gets past an unbeatable force field and the aliens can only marvel at how he did it. It is very vague as to how he made it passed this "energy barrier." Can someone give a better explanation of this ending?

Thanks to @user14111 for the link.

Now that I've read the story, it seems to me that this is a question that shouldn't be answered. Like "The Problem of Cell 13", the story is set up much like a riddle or a magic trick -- how can our hero escape from the inescapable prison? And like the two alternative solutions to Cell 13, the escape through the energy barrier is left to the reader to puzzle over.

There is a way he could have done it. At the end of the story, the three aliens conclude that the unique human power is the ability to keep on looking for impossible solutions; any one of them, or any member of any other known race, would have seen that escape was impossible and accepted the fact. He could not get through the barrier.

"But he did get out! You don't mean . . ." the commander's voice
faltered and dropped. The three stood caught in a sudden silence like
stone. Slowly, as if drawn by strings controlled by an invisible hand,
they turned as one to stare up into the empty sky and space beyond.

"You mean—" the commander's voice tried again, and died.

"Exactly!" whispered the doctor.

This can be read two ways. Either A) they have verified that escape through the energy barrier was impossible, yet the man did it, therefore the human race really is utterly unstoppable, or B) they just realized how he did it.

Riddles and magic tricks are much less entertaining if you don't solve them yourself, but here's a hint for those who want it:

When did he smile?

The Gordon Dickson story with this plot is an illustration of the popular "Human Exceptionalism Paradigm".

The view (paradigm) that humans are different from all other organisms, all human behaviour is controlled by culture and free will, and all problems can be solved by human ingenuity and technology. See also anthropocentrism.

So no explanation was needed (or provided) for how the force field was bypassed. A human being can do the impossible if he sets his mind to it, just because he is a human being.

Edit:

The indefatigable user14111 id'd the story in comments along with the link to the text - "Danger--Human!" by Gordon Dickson.

While it may be the intent of the story to purposefully not provide any explanation of his escape through the defensive screen, so as to drive home the idea that humans can do the impossible by sheer determination and force of will, I think there is a possible explanation alluded to in the story (which Beta hints at). Since it will be largely impossible to correctly spoiler-proof the following interpretation, I'll just warn readers to stop here and read no further if you'd like to maintain the mystery...

There are a few key statements made by the aliens that should first be noted (emphasis mine):

(when Eldridge is first imprisoned) "You were literally taken apart physically, after your capture; and as literally put back together again. We are advanced in the organic field, and certain things are true of all life forms. I supervised the work on you, myself. You will find that you are, for all practical purposes, immortal and irretrievably sane. This will be your home forever, and you will find that neither death nor insanity will provide you a way of escape."

(after Eldridge has an apparent mental breakdown) "You tried hard—" said the doctor. "But you see, you didn't make it. There's no way out that way for you."

(after Eldridge escapes) "Didn't we do it, we three? The legend told us not to touch them, not to set a spark to the explosive mixture of their kind. And we went ahead and did it, you, and you, and I. And now we've sent forth an enemy—safely into the safe hiding place of space, in a ship that can take him across the galaxy, supplied with food to keep him for years, rebuilt into a body that will not die, with star charts and all the keys to understand our culture and locate his home again, using the ability to learn we have encouraged in him."

There is a point when the doctor states that Eldridge isn't truly immortal, "only practically speaking", and that there are still apparent limits on how long he is able to live. But this still suggests that Eldridge has a sort of Wolverine-esque ability to resist death and aging, given to him by the aliens for the purpose of studying him for as long as possible. I believe this gives Eldridge the ability to survive the defensive screen, something Eldridge seems to realize after his mental breakdown (when he starts smiling). The aliens assumed that escape was impossible, and indeed it may have been for any normal human, but they themselves made Eldridge "supernormal" with their organic tinkering. Lacking the exceptional imagination and problem-solving ability of humans, the aliens were unable to envision how their own actions undermined their assumption.

So, in short, I think there are two themes/concepts at play here. One is "human exceptionalism", whereby humans have a unique, innate capacity to imagine solutions that other species couldn't, thereby making them able to perform feats other species would deem impossible or unimaginable. The second is the self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby the aliens, believing that humans are dangerous and possess "some capability above the normal", treat one in a way that causes him to realize his full potential and become the threat they fear so much. I believe this is the realization the aliens make in the end.

As ImaginaryEvents stated, he escapes through a use of the Human Exceptionalism Paradigm and in this story- that's exactly what the aliens are looking for.

"I will go on. There is something about your people that we are very
anxious to discover. We have been, and intend to continue, studying
you to find it out. So far—I will admit quite frankly and freely—we
have not found it; and the concensus among our best minds is that you,
yourself, do not know what it is. Accordingly, we have hopes of . . .
causing . . . you to discover it for yourself. And for us."

Humans almost took over the galaxy three times, just by being as resourceful and tenacious as Eldridge was in his escape. Whatever he does to pass through the energy field, is exactly what they were looking for, and exactly what Eldridge had no idea he could do.

I remember reading a story once, with the title you first mentioned. As far as I recall the aliens capture a human specimen and, against the advice of a worried alien scientist(?) who wants him destroyed, keep him in a cell with the sign 'Danger - Human' displayed. Someone queries this, because the human looks harmless. Eventually (I think over many years, because his life is artificially prolonged) he escapes from the cell by gradually dissolving the lock(?) with his regurgitated stomach acids and then...overcomes something else, probably your force field, by a method I can't recall! And flees. Sorry, the stomach acids thing stayed with me but not the rest. There is a Gordon R. Dickson story of this title, it may be the one we both remember.