The Last Question (original) (raw)

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1956 science-fiction short story by Isaac Asimov

"The Last Question"
Short story by Isaac Asimov
Language English
Genre Science fiction
Publication
Published in Science Fiction Quarterly
Publication type Periodical
Publisher Columbia Publications
Publication date November 1956
Publication place United States
Media type Print (magazine, hardback & paperback)
Chronology
Series Multivac
"Someday" "Jokester"

"The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the November 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly; and in the anthologies in the collections Nine Tomorrows (1959), The Best of Isaac Asimov (1973), Robot Dreams (1986), The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov (1986), the retrospective Opus 100 (1969), and Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories, Vol. 1 (1990). While he also considered it one of his best works,[1] "The Last Question" was Asimov's favorite short story of his own authorship, and is one of a loosely connected series of stories concerning a fictional computer called Multivac. Through successive generations, humanity questions Multivac on the subject of entropy.

The story blends science fiction, theology, and philosophy. It has been recognized as a counterpoint to Fredric Brown's short short story "Answer", published two years earlier.[2][3]

In conceiving Multivac, Asimov was extrapolating the trend towards centralization that characterized computation technology planning in the 1950s to an ultimate centrally managed global computer. After seeing a planetarium adaptation of his work, Asimov "privately" concluded that the story was his best science fiction yet written. He placed it just higher than "The Ugly Little Boy" (September 1958) and "The Bicentennial Man" (1976). The story asks the question of humanity's fate, and human existence as a whole, highlighting Asimov's focus on important aspects of our future like population growth and environmental issues.[1]

"The Last Question" ranks with "Nightfall" (1941) as one of Asimov's best-known and most acclaimed short stories. He wrote in 1973 that he appreciated how easy the story was to write after he had the idea. He was so often approached by fans who remembered the story but not the title, that in one instance he gave the answer, correctly, before the fan had even described the story.[4]

By the year 2061, Multivac, a self-adjusting and self-correcting computer, has allowed mankind to reach beyond the planetary confines of Earth and harness solar energy. Two technicians, Adell and Lupov, celebrate Multivac's role in this development. Over drinks, they discuss that the sun will expire due to the second law of thermodynamics, which states that entropy inevitably increases. When Adell asks Multivac whether this can be reversed, the computer responds that it has insufficient data to answer.

In several episodes over ten trillion years, increasingly advanced humans pose the same question to the computers of their time. Each time the computer gives the same response. At the heat death of the universe, the last disembodied consciousness of Man asks the question a final time of a computer that resides in hyperspace before merging with it.

After collecting the last data from the dead universe, the computer continues to process it alone and finds an answer to the last question. Having no one to tell it to, it proceeds to demonstrate by saying "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"

Although science and religion are frequently presented as having an oppositional relationship,[5] "The Last Question" explores some biblical contexts ("Let there be light"). In Asimov's story, aspects like the great meaning of existence are culminated through both technology and human knowledge. The evolution from Multivac to AC also emulates a sort of cycle of existence.[6]

Dystopian happy ending

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Multivac's purpose was conceptualized with a desire for knowledge, promoting the idea that more knowledge will lead to a better and more fruitful future for humanity. However, the computer's answers regarding the future suggest an inevitable exhaustion of the Sun, and this thirst for knowledge becomes an obsession with the future. The story's end displays a dichotomy between annihilation and peace.[7]

Dramatic adaptations

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It subsequently played at the:

In 1989 Asimov updated the star show adaptation to add in quasars and black holes.[15]

The story was adapted as a comic book by Don Thompson and drawn by John Estes in the third issue of ORBiT.

  1. ^ a b VanderMeer, Ann; VanderMeer, Jeff, eds. (2016). The Big Book of Science Fiction: The Ultimate Collection. New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. ISBN 978-1-101-91009-2. OCLC 928107748.
  2. ^ Gardner, Martin (1983). The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener. New York: Quill. ISBN 9780688020637. OCLC 9394205.
  3. ^ Landon, Brooks (2008). "Computers in Science Fiction". In Gunn, James; Barr, Marleen S.; Candelaria, Matthew (eds.). Reading Science Fiction. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780230527171. OCLC 244476584.
  4. ^ Asimov, Isaac (1973). "Introduction". The Best of Isaac Asimov. Sphere Books. pp. ix–xiv. ISBN 0-385-05078-X. LCCN 74-2863.
  5. ^ Popova, Maria (August 13, 2013). "Religion vs. Humanism: Isaac Asimov on Science and Spirituality". The Marginalian. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  6. ^ "The Last Question Analysis". Creative Writing Prompt Contests. June 20, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  7. ^ "There Is Yet Insufficient Data for a Meaningful Answer", Spoiler Alert, University of Minnesota Press, pp. 23–46, October 29, 2019, doi:10.5749/j.ctvr7fd26.4, ISBN 9781452962924, S2CID 242355987, retrieved April 6, 2022{{[citation](/wiki/Template:Citation "Template:Citation")}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  8. ^ "Asimov, Isaac, 1920-1992 - Social Networks and Archival Context". snaccooperative.org. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  9. ^ "Untitled briefs". The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 2, 1973. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  10. ^ a b Walsh, John F. (June 30, 1974). "'The Last Question' appeals to viewers at planetarium". Reading Eagle. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  11. ^ Oles, Paul (July 18, 1974). "The Pittsburgh Press". Viewing the Stars. p. 17.
  12. ^ "The Miami News September 2, 1977 pg53". September 2, 1977. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  13. ^ "ON THE ISLE". The New York Times. July 9, 1978. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  14. ^ "Planetarium presents 'The Last Question'". Deseret News. January 28, 1980. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  15. ^ a b "Planetarium asks sci-fi 'star' to update tale". Deseret News. May 30, 1989. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
  16. ^ "BBC Radio 7 - Isaac Asimov - The Last Question". Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  17. ^ "Isaac Asimov's The Last Question (6 p.m.)". Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Archived from the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2020.