Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s an atheist’s most religious dream to think of becoming one’s own creator. It’s nonsense, of course, but it definitely blew my mind reading it as a child. What set the parameters that the ultimate computer must work within? The ultimate computer can reverse entropy, but it can’t make its own reality. There are limits to the power of knowledge.
Creator in what sense though? Evolution is slow enough that there was never one point at which we suddenly came into being. First we were energy, then we were energy forming into chemicals, then we were chemicals forming into chemicals with rigid structures, then we were chemicals with rigid structures forming more complex structures, etc, until we got to here. Each iteration creates the next iteration, constantly, a…
The Last Question
91–100 of 169 posts
Re: The Last Question
#92A different take on this by Scott Alexander: :-) https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/06/02/and-i-show-you-how-dee...
Re: The Last Question
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s an atheist’s most religious dream to think of becoming one’s own creator. It’s nonsense, of course, but it definitely blew my mind reading it as a child. What set the parameters that the ultimate computer must work within? The ultimate computer can reverse entropy, but it can’t make its own reality. There are limits to the power of knowledge.
I think the issue is that Asimov uses "hyperspace" as a get-out-of-jail-free card for anything that seems to contradict physics. Faster than light travel? Possible through hyperspace. Infinitely powerful computers? Can exist in hyperspace.
Greg Egan in Permutation City neatly avoided the "computers is hyperspace" trope by locating his computing platform.... somewhere/everywhere.
Re: The Last Question
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Damn it, I wish I read this comment before I read the summary. I had chills at the end. Maybe I should read some Asimov...
See also “The last answer” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Answer Full text: https://highexistence.com/the-last-answer-short-story/ These 2 are my favorite Asimov stories.
For completeness, the Xkcd "Isaac in grade school" comic:
https://xkcd.com/1448/#isaac
Re: The Last Question
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
See also “The last answer” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Answer Full text: https://highexistence.com/the-last-answer-short-story/ These 2 are my favorite Asimov stories.
Thanks. I had read The Last Question already, but am among today's 10_000 for this story.
Nice xkcd reference.
Re: The Last Question
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
>If you haven’t read it before, don’t read the Wikipedia summary; read the actual story. Read it from the original publication: https://archive.org/details/Science_Fiction_Quarterly_New_Se... >
Interesting, the text on those scans is selectable, can anyone share how this is done is it a custom font? It does not seem so as the same letter appears to be rendered differently showing printing/scan artifacts. Maybe some styling?
Could it be this MacOS feature you are seeing?
https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/interact-with-text-in...
Re: The Last Question
#97If you haven’t read it before, don’t read the Wikipedia summary; read the actual story. It’s easy to google and pretty short. Isaac Asimov said it was his favorite story he’d written. He imagines the entire history of the future of humanity, to the end of time, in a few pages. Really a marvelous story.
When I put together a list of the "best" SF shorts a while back by author, this was my choice for Asimov. (IMO I can make an argument for "Nightfall" but that's a novella and other things being equal I was prioritizing shorter works.) That said, Asimov has a lot of good short stories including quite a few of his robot stories.
Re: The Last Question
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
>If you haven’t read it before, don’t read the Wikipedia summary; read the actual story. Read it from the original publication: https://archive.org/details/Science_Fiction_Quarterly_New_Se... >
OMG, I loved the original scan of this, wow, flash backs for me!!! Thank you soooo much. BTW, anyone just cruising by this post, it might be just me, but the advertisements at the very end of it are so dear. Just take a peek, so funny!
Somehow I don't think you'd be running the ad at the bottom of page 2 today.
Re: The Last Question
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting, the text on those scans is selectable, can anyone share how this is done is it a custom font? It does not seem so as the same letter appears to be rendered differently showing printing/scan artifacts. Maybe some styling?
Could it be this MacOS feature you are seeing? https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/interact-with-text-in...
Can also do it in Firefox on Windows.
Re: The Last Question
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just to be clear: it's Latin.
Yes, but the Greeks coined the actual phrase. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina#Origin_of_the_... "Deus ex machina is a Latin calque from Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apò mēkhanês theós) 'god from the machine'. The term was coined from the conventions of ancient Greek theater, where actors who were playing gods were brought onto stage using a machine."
Ah, thanks. Also, I don't think I ever noticed before that machine and mechanical are related words, both from Doric μαχανά / Greek μηχανή.