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The Last Question

filer.case.edu

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Re: The Last Question

#61

Post by _debug_ »

a3n wrote: post #30
_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.

It doesn't necessarily need to be a religion. It's clear that something like what we call The Big Bang happened. But we can only trace back time and space to the origin. What happened "before" the origin is probably unknowable to us on this side of the origin. The best we can do is speculate, in scientific or literary terms. So think of this as speculative fiction, expressed in terms of the author's time. Personally…

> Personally I thought the progression of man through the ages was the most interesting part of the story.

That was true for me, too.

Re: The Last Question

#62

Post by _debug_ »

eksith wrote: post #38
_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.

Asimov, as mentioned previously, was an atheist. The ending was a powerful metaphor of what it may mean to know all and how such an all knowing entity may act when there is no one else around to share this existence. This story isn't about religion wherein the origin of life and all that exists is explained on the basis of faith. This is a story on how such an origin can take place in a setting of speculative fiction…

The mention of that particular metaphor "Let there be light" is quite significant and is the thing that repulses me. I felt me that even the subtle negation of God by introducing a Deus Ex Machina (literally) is rooted in the notion of his particular Christian God that he is negating. It only gives strength to the other fiction by trying to negate it.

The wow-isnt-the-ending-"clever" negation of an ending actually fell flat for me. It really is a trite device if you think about it.

I feel sorry for you and all others who think they feel sorry for me because I have a differing opinion which you presume is inferior. In reality, I believe your opinion is probably just conforming rather than well thought-out : you you you think it's awesome, but I question whether you are even thinking and just think it's awesome because it's Asimov. That's no different from the premium a shopper pays for Prada because, duh, it's Prada.

Re: The Last Question

#63

Post by fennecfoxen »

mindcrime wrote: post #58
fennecfoxen wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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? :-)

Well. There's definitely a good chance it will be the last question for Eleven.

Re: The Last Question

#64

Post by mindcrime »

fennecfoxen wrote: post #63
mindcrime wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Well. There's definitely a good chance it will be the last question for Eleven.

"Eleven is the best. You'll cry your eyes out".

Re: The Last Question

#65

Post by otikik »

_debug_ wrote: post #60
andrewljohnson wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 hav…

No.

Re: The Last Question

#66

Post by otikik »

_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.

No.

Re: The Last Question

#67

Post by eksith »

_debug_ wrote: post #62
eksith wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asimov, as mentioned previously, was an atheist. The ending was a powerful metaphor of what it may mean to know all and how such an all knowing entity may act when there is no one else around to share this existence. This story isn't about religion wherein the origin of life and all that exists is explained on the basis of faith. This is a story on how such an origin can take place in a setting of speculative fiction…

The mention of that particular metaphor "Let there be light" is quite significant and is the thing that repulses me. I felt me that even the subtle negation of God by introducing a Deus Ex Machina (literally) is rooted in the notion of his particular Christian God that he is negating. It only gives strength to the other fiction by trying to negate it. The wow-isnt-the-ending-"clever" negation of an ending actually fe…

Since this is going the same pattern as all other internet discussions (and since you assume an awful lot about people who disagree with you) I'll just refer you to the wisdom of The Dude: "Well, that's like your opinion, man."

Re: The Last Question

#68

Post by j0j0r0 »

i saw this as a little kid with my dad as a slide show at a planetarium...(omnisphere in wichita, ks)

as a kid, it was ok, but slightly boring until the very end, when after minutes of complete darkness very bright lights came and the planetarium stars went spinning ... it made the whole room seem to spin.

i remembered it all that time, but could never discover who wrote it...

so, thanks.

Re: The Last Question

#69

Post by habosa »

kevinpet wrote: post #52
theon144 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think it has to be an easter egg considering that WA does not provide answers to many "How .... ?" questions. It's much more of a service for "What" questions. But I do like that it's displayed like any other answer. It gives a Watson feeling.
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