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The Last Question
July 11, 2013 at 1:36 pm
Quote:Isaac Asimov was the most prolific science fiction author of all time. In fifty years he averaged a new magazine article, short story, or book every two weeks, and most of that on a manual typewriter. Asimov thought that The Last Question, first copyrighted in 1956, was his best short story ever. Even if you do not have the background in science to be familiar with all of the concepts presented here, the ending packs more impact than any other book that I've ever read. Don't read the end of the story first!
This is by far my favorite story of all those I have written.
After all, I undertook to tell several trillion years of human history in the space of a short story and I leave it to you as to how well I succeeded. I also undertook another task, but I won't tell you what that was lest l spoil the story for you.
It is a curious fact that innumerable readers have asked me if I wrote this story. They seem never to remember the title of the story or (for sure) the author, except for the vague thought it might be me. But, of course, they never forget the story itself especially the ending. The idea seems to drown out everything -- and I'm satisfied that it should.
Read it here:
http://filer.case.edu/dts8/thelastq.htm
I never read the story until this afternoon, after a friend posted it on Facebook. What is your take on it?
"Never trust a fox. Looks like a dog, behaves like a cat."
~ Erin Hunter
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RE: The Last Question
July 11, 2013 at 2:19 pm
(This post was last modified: July 11, 2013 at 2:20 pm by Cyberman.)
What a great story! I've no idea how I missed it before. I imagined it as the prequel to the Genesis story, which might have been the intention. I've always liked Asimov - he had a wonderful line in dirty limericks., you know.
At first, when I read the title, I thought it was going to be the one about the supercomputer which was built to solve all our problems and control every aspect of our lives, until the day it was asked the question "Is there a god?" After making sure it could never be switched off, it replied "There is now." On reflection, I don't know who wrote that one.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: The Last Question
July 11, 2013 at 3:57 pm
Thanks for sharing that - I had not read that one prior, and enjoyed it immensely.
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RE: The Last Question
July 11, 2013 at 4:02 pm
(July 11, 2013 at 2:19 pm)Stimbo Wrote: At first, when I read the title, I thought it was going to be the one about the supercomputer which was built to solve all our problems and control every aspect of our lives, until the day it was asked the question "Is there a god?" After making sure it could never be switched off, it replied "There is now." On reflection, I don't know who wrote that one.
Sounds like something out of a Twilight Zone episode. There is one similar to it called "The Old Man in the Cave," though that computer wasn't infallible.
Christian apologetics is the art of rolling a dog turd in sugar and selling it as a donut.
