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Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

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Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#61

Post by jjoonathan »

eschulz wrote: post #12

I love this story. When I first read it online in college many years ago I was surprised, and disappointed, when I suddenly realized it was a short story. It's a great one to recommend to people.

Outer Wilds, the video game, does a brilliant job expanding on this theme if you're hungry for more. "There's more to explore here."

Warning: progression is gated behind knowledge so spoilers are worse than usual and The Algorithm will aggressively try to spoil you if you start poking too deep into "outer wilds" searches. If you like The Last Question and can fit a game in your life, Outer Wilds is a solid bet.

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#62

Post by monsieurbanana »

jjoonathan wrote: post #54
Procrastes wrote: post #40

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.

Outer Wilds vibes! I love it! (It's a video game that does a brilliant job touching on similar themes to The Last Question. If you liked The Last Question and can fit a video game into your life, you will probably like Outer Wilds. Warning: if you start searching for "outer wilds," the algorithm will aggressively try to spoil you. Progression in the game is gated behind knowledge, so this is worse than usual. If you…

I... Think you just spoiled me. Somehow I've managed to avoid all information about it so far, but now that you said it's like the last question...

It's on me for procrastinating playing the game for so long, it was bound to happen.

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#64

Post by IAmBroom »

xeonmc wrote: post #44
jihadjihad wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Don't forget the "Can't send emails farther than 500 miles" one, too [0]: 0: https://web.mit.edu/jemorris/humor/500-miles

Not quite tech or sci-fi, but for me it’s https://www.eternal-flame.org/library/oldlibrary/georgebusin...

Is that the origin of the Sean Connery dragon movie, Dragonheart?

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#65

Post by Esn024 »

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?

I think Brian Daley's books have a somewhat similar feel as Asimov's, particularly "Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds" and its sequels.

I also find C.J.Cherryh's books to be often quite interesting.

Asimov really did have a knack for clear, deceptively simple writing that isn't all that common.

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#66

Post by waltbosz »

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…

I feel like the software running multivac represents something vastly more advanced than today's LLM.

I wonder if Asimov considered multivac to be an ancestor to his positronic robots, or if the two exist in different universes. I don't recall the two ever appearing in the same story.

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#67

Post by jperoutek »

Arainach wrote: post #21
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?

Ted Chiang is the greatest living science fiction short story writer I'm aware of, and ranks highly on my all time list.

I second this. Exhalation for some reason really resonates with me.

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#69

Post by gwerbin »

CGMthrowaway wrote: post #37

>INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER Boy, it sure would be nice if real LLMs were capable of giving an answer like that.

They can do it, it's just not "by default", they need to be prompted to do it. So at least the danger is manageable if you know what you're doing and how to prompt around it.

Re: Isaac Asimov: The Last Question (1956)

#70

Post by jjoonathan »

monsieurbanana wrote: post #62
jjoonathan wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outer Wilds vibes! I love it! (It's a video game that does a brilliant job touching on similar themes to The Last Question. If you liked The Last Question and can fit a video game into your life, you will probably like Outer Wilds. Warning: if you start searching for "outer wilds," the algorithm will aggressively try to spoil you. Progression in the game is gated behind knowledge, so this is worse than usual. If you…

I... Think you just spoiled me. Somehow I've managed to avoid all information about it so far, but now that you said it's like the last question... It's on me for procrastinating playing the game for so long, it was bound to happen.

"Similar" is doing substantial work. If this is your only clue, it is likely to mislead you for at least 50% of the game, and I strongly suspect you will have fun anyway :)
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