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The Last Question

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Re: The Last Question

#51

Post by Aldream »

michielvoo wrote: post #37
gruseom wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What underlying theory do you have in mind? It seems like Nietzsche's eternal recurrence to me.

I detect two theories relevant to HN readers. Spoilers ahead... . . . You have been warned... . The story moves towards a technological singularity [1]. This is a term Asimov could have been familar with at the time of writing. The name MULTIVAC is obviously inspired by the ENIAC and UNIVAC. So it's safe to assume Asimov was aware of the writings of Von Neumann. The unintended consequence of creating this artificial…

While reading this short story, I also couldn't help myself from thinking about these two articles posted few days ago, and their underlying connection: - "Physicists To Test If Universe Is A Computer Simulation" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5562156). - "European Researchers Win $1.3 Billion To Simulate The Human Brain" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5575312)

Re: The Last Question

#52

Post by kevinpet »

theon144 wrote: post #10
habosa wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Link for the curious: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=What+is+the+last+questi...

I think he meant https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=How+may+entropy+be+rev...

What's really awesome about this is that it doesn't appear to be an easter egg. WA simply interprets this unusual question as being a reference to something it knows about.

Re: The Last Question

#55

Post by fennecfoxen »

mindcrime wrote: post #39
bayesianhorse wrote: post #20

Silence must fall when the last question is asked.

On the Fields of Trenzalore, on the Fall of the Eleventh, when no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer, a question will be asked...

Yes, but that's the first question in the universe, not the final question.

Re: The Last Question

#57

Post by seren »

thetylerhayes wrote: post #56
some_googler wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or Clarke's Childhood's End...

So very, very good. I would also recommend The Light of Other Days.

What I found astonishing with the Light of Other Days is that with the massive sharing of pictures and videos on social network and the advent of Google Glass, it seems that at a point in the near future will be able to "browse" what's currently happening in the world from multi view point in real time. At the time it was released it was clearly science fiction, now not so much, it seems.

Re: The Last Question

#58

Post by mindcrime »

fennecfoxen wrote: post #55
mindcrime wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the Fields of Trenzalore, on the Fall of the Eleventh, when no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer, a question will be asked...

Yes, but that's the first question in the universe, not the final question.

Apparently it's going to be the last as well. Otherwise, why are they trying so hard to stop it? :-)

Re: The Last Question

#59

Post by smoyer »

Apocryphon wrote: post #50
alanh wrote: post #42

Previously discussed on HN, including: Most comments, over a year ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3691113 4 years previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=595419

How poetic that this story be the one to be reposted and retold, again and again, until-

Until the entropy of HN makes it impossible to post or read a final time?

Re: The Last Question

#60

Post by _debug_ »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #27
_debug_ wrote: post #25

What a waste of time that was! I felt greatly cheated by the ending. It was exactly as if I had met a friendly, neatly dressed, smiling person on the street who, after 5 minutes, turned out to be peddling his religion after all. Honestly, I have thought of much better stories myself. I remember GREATLY enjoying Asimov as a teenager, and I am pretty sure this is not his best story.

You have _thought_ of better stories yourself, but have you ever _written_ a better story. I'm pretty incredulous of anyone who claims to write better than Isaac Asimov. Strikes me the same way people who never built anything go around ripping on other people's products. Truly classic internet delusions of grandeur.

> Truly classic internet delusions of grandeur.

The delusion is yours : you don't know who you are talking to on the Internet, and you have assumed that the other anonymous writer is as mundane as you are. Says something about you, not me.

The irony of thinking, "Since I think Asimov / Steve Jobs / Linus / whoever is awesome, and so many other people agree, it MUST mean that the dissenting commentor is a troll or having 'delusions of grandeur'" is that when these people started out, I'm pretty sure self-appointed X Factor judges of the world future such as yourself told them exactly the same thing. "How deluded to think you can write an Operating System, you puny mortal, you Linus?!"

You are a follower, not a leader.

Edit : the person who wrote, "Asimov was an atheist. You misunderstood the story" is the one you have to learn from.

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