Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956) • Hacker News Board

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#31

Post by npilk » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 1:26 PM UTC

bitshiftfaced wrote: post #8

For a while I thought I really liked sci fi novels and short stories, and maybe that's somewhat true. But I've started wondering if maybe I just liked Asimov's writing in particular. Other writers in the genre are more hit or miss. Can anyone recommend other writers that are on his level?

It's not "sci fi" but you should read Borges' short stories, particularly from Ficciones.

You may have already read his story The Library of Babel: https://sites.evergreen.edu/politicalshakespeares/wp-content...

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#32

Post by 0xmattf » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 1:31 PM UTC

One of my all-time favorites. Almost every time I'm involved in a conversation about books, I always mention this. It amazes me how many people have never heard of it.

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#33

Post by b3lvedere » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 1:37 PM UTC

markus_zhang wrote: post #4

jasongill wrote: post #2

This is one of those stories, just like the SR-71 "ground speed check" story, that every single time I see it posted I just have to read the entire thing again. I love it.

How about this one? https://www.haiku-os.org/legacy-docs/benewsletter/Issue4-8.h...

That was an awesome read. Thanks.

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#34

Post by phkahler » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 1:37 PM UTC

bitshiftfaced wrote: post #8

For a while I thought I really liked sci fi novels and short stories, and maybe that's somewhat true. But I've started wondering if maybe I just liked Asimov's writing in particular. Other writers in the genre are more hit or miss. Can anyone recommend other writers that are on his level?

>> But I've started wondering if maybe I just liked Asimov's writing in particular.

A less commonly mentioned Asimov book that I really enjoyed and will read again is "The End of Eternity". If you've not read it, the ending is IMHO amazing and unique.

Last Question reminds me of it because of the style.

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#35

Post by PaulHoule » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 1:37 PM UTC

jasongill wrote: post #2

This is one of those stories, just like the SR-71 "ground speed check" story, that every single time I see it posted I just have to read the entire thing again. I love it.

You better watch out. When my evil twin feels y'all aren't upvoting my posts enough he thinks "let's do a search for articles that have gotten 200+ votes at least 5 times in different years" [1] It's a highly effective strategy that I know dang doesn't like!

So I'll post another article about robot grippers which you should upvote instead of the breathless "AI will give us more Nobel Prize winning research" posts because: (1) robots that can change bedpans and pick strawberries really will change the world, and (2) they give out a certain number of Nobel Prizes a year and AI won't change that.

[1] old issues of Byte magazine are a good bet: try https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1986-05

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#36

Post by grimgrin » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 1:38 PM UTC

okay so i'll be the sole commenter of: hex.ooo is an incredible domain name to me, maybe because i dig its UI, but certainly just in general

didn't know about ooo, maybe because it's not available on namecheap!

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#37

Post by CGMthrowaway » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 1:38 PM UTC

>INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER

Boy, it sure would be nice if real LLMs were capable of giving an answer like that.

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#38

Post by robrain » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 1:43 PM UTC

bitshiftfaced wrote: post #8

For a while I thought I really liked sci fi novels and short stories, and maybe that's somewhat true. But I've started wondering if maybe I just liked Asimov's writing in particular. Other writers in the genre are more hit or miss. Can anyone recommend other writers that are on his level?

Becky Chambers - Wayfarer series and several enjoyable short stories/novellas. Low on blasters, high on sentient life in all its many forms.

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#39

Post by mercer » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 1:46 PM UTC

shivaniShimpi_ wrote: post #25

moffers wrote: post #6

My favorite short story of all time. Between this and Deep Thought in HHGttG, I couldn’t believe the prescience when the bitter lesson was learned and LLMs and GPUs started eating the world.

the LLM parallel does hit different on this read multivac says insufficient data across ten trillion years and the whole story is basically if more compute and more data eventually gets you there. what's weird is the story answers yes, not on any timeframe that helps the people asking tho. feels uncomfortably close to the actual situation where the models keep getting better and the answer keeps being "not yet, ask a…

maybe 42 was just the end of sequence token...

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#40

Post by Procrastes » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 1:46 PM UTC

I remember the first time I heard this story. I was maybe 7 at a planetarium and they animated it with music little hand drawn starships and retro computers floating among the stars. They turned the stars all out for the final scene.