Posted on 03/28/2009 3:25:50 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
The Last Question by Isaac Asimov © 1956
The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way: Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of Multivac. As well as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind the cold, clicking, flashing face -- miles and miles of face -- of that giant computer. They had at least a vague notion of the general plan of relays and circuits that had long since grown past the point where any single human could possibly have a firm grasp of the whole.
Multivac was self-adjusting and self-correcting. It had to be, for nothing human could adjust and correct it quickly enough or even adequately enough -- so Adell and Lupov attended the monstrous giant only lightly and superficially, yet as well as any men could. They fed it data, adjusted questions to its needs and translated the answers that were issued. Certainly they, and all others like them, were fully entitled to share In the glory that was Multivac's.
For decades, Multivac had helped design the ships and plot the trajectories that enabled man to reach the Moon, Mars, and Venus, but past that, Earth's poor resources could not support the ships. Too much energy was needed for the long trips. Earth exploited its coal and uranium with increasing efficiency, but there was only so much of both.
But slowly Multivac learned enough to answer deeper questions more fundamentally, and on May 14, 2061, what had been theory, became fact.
(continued...)
(Excerpt) Read more at multivax.com ...
I first read this story circa 1968. It was in a book of short stories by Isaac Asimov that I had received from my membership in the Science Fiction Book Club. For some reason the story always stuck with me, and I was a little surprised to stumble onto it on the internet. It was weird reading it again for the first time in ~40 years.
Enjoy!
Thank you Lancey. This is my all time favorite Asimov story. It is right up there with “The Billiard Ball”.
“This is by far my favorite story of all those I have written.
After all, I undertook to tell several trillion years of human history in the space of a short story and I leave it to you as to how well I succeeded. I also undertook another task, but I won’t tell you what that was lest l spoil the story for you.
It is a curious fact that innumerable readers have asked me if I wrote this story. They seem never to remember the title of the story or (for sure) the author, except for the vague thought it might be me. But, of course, they never forget the story itself especially the ending. The idea seems to drown out everything — and I’m satisfied that it should.” —Isaac Asimov
Yikes!
I was just going to look for that story as well... it's my favorite, too!
I still cracks up that Asimov was originally going to call that story, "Dirty Pool", but thought the title a little too cute.
I'm currently re-reading it...for like the 10th time. Such a funny book.
I have not read that book but I shall pick it up.
Another of my favorite Asimov stories is the one where the space traveler chases Jesus from planet to planet, always arriving a day, an hour, a minute, and a second too late. For the life of me I can’t remember the title of that story.
My favorite author of all time!
No one was better at explaining complicated “Stuff” in lay-mans terms like Isaac!
Read a short story called “The Billiard Ball” by Isaac!
A GREAT story dealing with quantum mechanics and speed of light theory .. written in a FUN and EASY reading style that a 12 year old, (like I was) could understand and most importantly .. Enjoy!
Isaac actually wanted to rename the story .. “Dirty Pool”! LOL
Thanks for your comments! (But you obviously didn’t read the previous posts, did you?)
Another (massive) book I got from the Science Fiction Book Club (circa 1968) was ‘The Foundation Trilogy’. I took that book to the shore during the family’s two-week summer vacation and finished it. Great book.
Matter of fact, another rather large book I got from the SFBC was ‘The Past Through Tomorrow’ by my all-time favorite author, Robert Heinlein. Couldn’t put that down, either.
FRegards,
LH
(( ping ))
(From the movie “Dark Star”, a conversation with a ‘Thermostellar bomb’.)
Doolittle: Hello, Bomb? Are you with me?
Bomb #20: Of course.
Doolittle: Are you willing to entertain a few concepts?
Bomb #20: I am always receptive to suggestions.
Doolittle: Fine. Think about this then. How do you know you exist?
Bomb #20: Well, of course I exist.
Doolittle: But how do you know you exist?
Bomb #20: It is intuitively obvious.
Doolittle: Intuition is no proof. What concrete evidence do you have that you exist?
Bomb #20: Hmmmm... well... I think, therefore I am.
Doolittle: That’s good. That’s very good. But how do you know that anything else exists?
Bomb #20: My sensory apparatus reveals it to me. This is fun.
[Pinback wants the bomb to disarm]
Pinback: All right, bomb. Prepare to receive new orders.
Bomb#20: You are false data.
Pinback: Hmmm?
Bomb #20: Therefore I shall ignore you.
Pinback: Hello... bomb?
Bomb #20: False data can act only as a distraction. Therefore, I shall refuse to perceive.
Pinback: Hey, bomb?
Bomb #20: The only thing that exists is myself.
Pinback: Snap out of it, bomb.
Bomb#20: In the beginning, there was darkness. And the darkness was without form, and void.
Boiler: What the hell is he talking about?
Bomb#20: And in addition to the darkness there was also me. And I moved upon the face of the darkness. And I saw that I was alone.
Let there be light.
(( ping ))
Wow. I simply do not recognize that one. I've read pretty much everything Asimov has written. At least...I thought I had. I guess I'll have to go back and check now.
You should definitely get a hold of Murder at the ABA. It is a non-Sci-Fi novel and it is a riot.
Ooops! My bad....
It wasn’t an Asimov story, but a Ray Bradbury story.
_______________________________________________
“The Man” by Ray Bradbury
“The Man” is a simple parable involving a prophet who travels from planet to planet; his best-known appearance was on Earth roughly 2,000 years ago. The Man doesn’t appear in the story himselfinstead, it’s the story of Hart, a rocket ship captain who lands on an alien world shortly after the prophet’s departure. Hart’s initial incredulity about the Man soon turns into a violent obsession, and he threatens the quaint alien villagers with violence if they do not help him locate the prophet. Hart’s tragedy is that he thinks of God as a destination, something to be found elsewhere. He doesn’t realize that wherever the Man visits, he never truly leaves:
“And he’ll go on, planet after planet, seeking and seeking, and always and always he will be an hour late, or a half hour late, or ten minutes late, or a minute late... And he will go on and on, thinking to find that very thing which he left behind here, on this planet.”
Free speculative fiction online
I have been finding many stories that I read in the 50's and 60's. Enjoy
There is one other in this vein that I love that isn't an Asimov story...but it feels like it should be. "The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke. A really good short story with an unexpected twist at the end.
Fiction: Isaac Asimov’s ‘Nightfall’
http://doctord.dyndns.org:8000/Stories/Nightfall.htm
Did To, Did To!
LOL
Thanks for writing
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