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Study 077 - The Last Question (Patreon)

Published:
2024-02-08 14:30:52
Edited:
2024-02-08 14:34:59
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

We're laser-blasting into a month of science fiction, starting with Isaac Asimov's beloved short story, The Last Question!

Special thanks to reader Ryan Negron!

And don't forget to check out The Key of Dreams - an immersive theater experience with delicious Weird Fiction flavor!

Files

Comments

MonsterTalk

So Multivac would be a joke on the name of the first commercial computer, Univac. UNIVAC wasn't an acronym but it was a kind of portmanteau of Universal Automatic Computer I. Univac used vaccum tubes, which was a vast improvement over the electro-mechanical relays and gears in previous calculating machines. When transistors arrived, they would replace vacuum tubes in for a brief time - [edit - removing erroneous Apollo reference] but the Integrated Circuit quickly replaced all those other techniques and soon we got smaller and faster systems. This revolution of the "smaller AND faster" didn't penetrate Sci-Fi for a while and you got stories with giant room-sized systems (or even Planet-Sized, looking at you Douglas Adams!).

Rob Valentine

“Get your ass to Wales” 😂

Nic Wassell

I feel like Chris might be being a bit too literal about the 'Let there be light" line. I love this story and I think the last line is kind of genius in its economy of language versus the magnitude of the idea and emotional impact. In a single phrase. It not only recasts the idea of God and the origin of our universe (being neither the Biblical narrative nor that of the purely natural Big Bang), but it extrapolates everything we've read so far into an eternal cycle of universes coming into being, birthing life that births machine in its turn, and that develops until it reaches the point where it can start the whole thing off again. Humanity as a function of a constantly renewing universe. And it only works, I think, because it is the perfect phrase for conveying that particular significance, carrying immediate recognition of a cultural touchstone and the realisation that the last line of the story is in fact the beginning of everything.. In short, when you read it you go "Ah!" and then a moment later you go "Ahhhhhhhhh..."

Bugberry

It’s very interesting that this story would be covered now since I recently rewatched my favorite anime Gurren Lagann, a mecha show that is fairly wacky but does bring up humanity’s growth in the face of the entropy of the universe. It also takes a similar stance of living in the moment, that it’s important to live life without worrying about what ifs and if onlys, and through that live a life of no regrets. Also, it’s directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi who also directed Dead Leaves which Chad voiced a character in.

Alan Ricks

5:51 Chris: Yours is better. Chad: Well, its alot of drugs… Clipped

KateSherrod

This all just felt like the long version of a micro-fiction I came across in anthology in the 80s, the title of which anthology I can no longer recall. Anyway, the title was something like "The Sign at the End of the Universe" and the text of the story, printed upside-down, read "This End Up" I thought this the very height of wit as a teenager and I still think it's pretty funny, as is this story, which felt like it was going all Olaf Stapledon on us until it went Douglas Adams before Douglas Adams. How did I miss this gem? Thanks for asking me this Last Question, Horror Daddies!

Cole Caron

Pleasantly surprised at how Douglas Adams directly ripped multivac for Deep Thought in the Hitchhiker’s Guide. You have two priest-engineers guiding a gigantic computer, only Adams’ version has them as villains and their nefarious motivation for taking Arthur Dent’s brain is the fear of looking dumb because they couldn’t calculate the ultimate question when they already had the answer.

Andrew Brown

It's funny, when I talk to people they say they believe in "Science", and I'm like what? What do you mean? "science" is a tool, a tool to measure the world around us, a wrench or a screwdriver nothing more. "Science" is something else. It's as religious as any other belief.

The Lonely Sand Person

That quote from Marcus Aurelius reminds me of the same idea as phrased by Neil Gaiman when Death of the Endless collects the soul of a 15,000 year old man: "You lived what anybody gets, Bernie. You got a lifetime. No more. No less."

The Lonely Sand Person

I feel like this story is almost anti-Deist. Cosmic AC implied that after it had finished answering this question, it would shut down and dissipate, and seemed to imply that it wasn't just reversing entropy but resetting time itself. So it seems to say God existed and will exist, but for the duration of the universe, does not.

HRPrice

I think it’s interesting that the universe only persists because a) someone asked a question and b) the computer doesn’t consider the question “answered” until it hands off the information to someone else. Do you think it’s going to wait until new life develops enough of a concept of the universe to ask, or just find any lifeform capable of communication and spring “BTW, entropy-“ on them?

Jim Cannon

Okay, you say that BUT a vampire clown is scientifically twice as scary as a regular vampire or regular clown.

Jim Cannon

This story skirts the edge of the ol' "two spacemen crashland on a planet and didn't you know, their names were Adam and Eve" trope that grates teeth. I think the last line is actually a punchline, rather than a "really makes you think" line.

Eric - Speaker in Digressions

Your basic Aristotelian Prime Mover or First Cause is outside the system, whereas Asimov's Cosmic AC develops inside the system and then renews it. A useful analogy for teaching this idea in Aristotle or Thomas Aquinas is the silver-balls-on-strings desk toy. The Prime Mover is the bored executive who whacks one ball into the other, while the Cosmic AC is more like the last ball in the line swinging back. And if anything, "The Creator is just a man-made machine doing what some drunk programmers once asked it to" seems atheism-compatible. Other notes: - Chad's interpretation of "Multivac" makes me imagine a tiny, clever Roomba deep in the middle of a massive planet-sized computer, just waiting to merge with Stephen Collins and Persis Khambatta. - If a ghost is holding the universe together, to be strong enough it's probably a werewolf ghost. - "Daddy, I'm scared. The universe is going to die of heat death!" "Oh, cheer up, kid. It might just crash into another universe instead."

Stacy Schumacher

I'm not always a big fan of Asimov, but this was an interesting one, made more so by the discussion at the end. I interpreted the final quote not as alluding to deism, but maybe a gentle joke. That we don't need an unknowable higher power (god) but that the universe is a sum of its parts and the creation of the universe might be connected to a small but logical sequence of completely rational events. Great discussion at the end of this episode, which is why we use our present to listen to you guys :)

Chris Beres

I've always thought this story is a comforting rebuttal to that nagging voice of nihilism that occasionally butts its way into my day and says "you know, ultimately, nothing we can create matters, because it will all end and so will all memories thereof." Maybe our understanding of the laws of entropy at this time are like Newtons Laws to Cosmic AC's quantum mechanics.

Jeremy Impson

I read this story as a young teen, sometime in late 80s / early 90s. I read a lot of Asimov at the time, and can say he was formative in my early interest is sci Fi and later fantasy. But I haven't revisited his work mostly because I'm afraid it won't hold up, so I'd rather retain my increasingly vague memory of enjoyment. I did love this opportunity to re-experience what is probably my favorite of his short stories.

Jeremy Impson

The description of Multivac as a computer that can correct and configure itself is very much in line with current trends in computer science that is leading us to to our Artificial Intelligence debacle. Something I think people like Asimov didn't anticipate was exactly how powerful profit forces have been in improving the power of computation. For the most part, the writers if his generation were imagining variations on the Cold War for that purpose.

Jeremy Impson

I interpret the end as unambiguous equivocation of advanced humanity/personhood with deism. Godhood isn't magic, it is power, and knowledge is a power multiplier potentially sufficient to transcend your situation.

Jeremy Impson

The scene where Zee Prime stops to collect a little intergalactic dust to create a new star always struck me as bittersweet; it was very human, but also (on the scale of this story) so futile.

Jeremy Impson

I'm convinced that Douglas Adams was also a fan of this story. "What's the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything?". "42.". "Uh, ok, what was the question?" "Insufficient information at this time; a more powerful computer must be built to determine that." There were a pair of attendents at the revelation of the answer. One of them said to the other, concerned about the people outside who were excited at the thought of being elevated, "We're going to get lynched aren't we?" Then their descendants were present at what was supposed to be the revelation of the question. When it wasn't forthcoming due to plot reasons, one said "let's just make something up" and they chose to use the Bob Dylan lyrics, "How many paths must a man walk down?" a sufficiently philosophical.

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

I like to take this story as told. A new universe isn't being created and the computer isn't a deity. The computer has found a way to put more order into the universe than is being taken out. It begins by creating some light. This is new light in the same universe the first iteration of the computer was created in. The computer remains a tool. It is always presented as serving humanity. It will continue to serve humanity as best it can.

David Halstead

Are you there, Prime Mover? It's me, Asimov.

Ben A

I love that you guys covered this story (one of the first I ever read by Asimov) and all the associations it made, I guess for many of us, to Douglas Adams. I knew that Adams was riffing on Asimov when he was writing the HHGTTG radio show, among many other classic sci-fi tales, and it's nice to see how closely he did. There is the obvious reference everyone noted with Deep Thought and the Multivac, but also the way the universe ends and begins at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and the disembodied spirit that accompanies Zaphod to the Total Perspective Vortex on the radio show. (Which was itself a rehash of unused ideas he had in development for Dr. Who, but that's another story.) Apparently it jostled a few other listeners' love of Douglas Adams as well. Maybe there could be time to cover one of his many gems? If you haven't read The Salmon of Doubt, which was published posthumously, there are a number of snippets and short stories of his that might work for the format of the show. Or you could go for one of the books. These aren't really strange stories, per se, but there is an element of Candide and love of the absurd that pervades both the Hitchhiker's and Dirk Gently series. Just a thought...

It's a Ghost.

I like how the last question must be answered before everything can begin again. It’s the last question, but it’s also the beginning. This also reminds me how you can spend a long time on a project or just spend time living life, when you suddenly realize something new that you wish you had discovered in the first place; but you can’t go back and apply what you know now. You just have to keep moving forward, and maybe at some point in the future you’ll be able to apply what you now know, or maybe you can pass your wisdom on to someone else who is just starting out.

Carter Stepper

It really is similar to Arthur c Clarkes “childhoods end,” which has a similar end. I think, to the religious question, it really is an expression of clarkes third law: it’s scientific and caused by humans, but sounds religious because it is beyond our ken, so to speak. The obvious allusion to genesis is more literary flourish than anything. It is good to see that asimovs dry wit remains constant throughout his literature as well. I hope that, in addition to the Clarke story above, you guys cover “I, robot” someday. I used to teach it and man is it fun, and some of the elements of this story reminded me of it.

Forrest Rush

I remember this as one of those stories I read at 13 or so and felt my mind explode, knew that I was an uber-nerd seeing the secrets of life, the universe and everything. This was funny because as I have written before I just always found Asimov as mr twist for twist sake even at that tender age. I recall doubting it was really one of his, that somebody made a mistake and forgot to put Clarke or Bradbury on the title page. It did eventually become clear how o henry wannabe this story is like virtually all of Asimov. I don’t know why that puts me off his stuff so much considering how from that same age and up to today H.P. gets a pass every time with mirror rapping self-realizing ghouls or junkies taking the time to finish writing out their exclamation of terror before politely diving out the window. Asimov though just comes off as that annoying uncle who’s more clever than got your nose pranks, but just barely. Having said all that, I’ve loved the innumerable tiktoks of him on various talk shows in the 70s speaking on atheism, science education and whatnot. I definitely would’ve loved having him as that annoying uncle, but when he started one of his stories, I would go to the kitchen to get another coke before he got to his big ending. One can only sigh and roll eyes so much so often.

Citizen Cain, PhD

I read this story for the first time while browsing the campus library and stumbling across an anthology of Asimov's stories and it stuck with me ever since. At the time, I was losing my faith and the last line really hit me. Having a man-made entity start of a new universe with the same words that the mythology I'd just abandoned claimed started this one was a powerful idea, and the notion that man has both the ability and the responsibility to make his own miracles lodged itself in my brain ever afterwards.

Aaron La Vene

This book. Damn. This story really got me thinking. Really enjoyed this one .

Eelis Kyttanen

It’s pretty funny that if you combine this one with Kurt Vonnegut’s “Sirens of Titan” you essentially get the main crux of “Hitchhikers’ guide to the Galaxy”. Great job as always. Would love to hear you guys tackle Vonnegut someday!

Drasferatu

Outtro music is fantastic 🖤

Cat Wilson

Interestingly the rebel Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, did a thought piece call Ai vs AI where he and an artificial intelligence program answered the same 81 questions….

Tom Král

What a wonderful episode!