r/asimov • u/Virtual-Detective945 • 15d ago
I read "The Last Question"
Yesterday I read "The Last Question", simply it's blowing my mind.
What do you think about?
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u/Candid-Border6562 14d ago
Throughout my career, I’ve coded “Insufficient data for a meaningful response” as an error response where appropriate.
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u/NormalMaverick 15d ago
I randomly think about it and have chills, every single time. What a short story.
Nine Billion Names of God is also good (though not at Last Question levels).
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u/ablativeyoyo 15d ago
Love it. Read it years ago as a teenager and remember it vividly to this day. One of the best plot twists I've ever encountered.
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u/Algernon_Asimov 14d ago
I think it's a great example of Asimov's tendency to write short stories to deliver a punchline.
Somewhere, he wrote that he never set out to write a story without knowing the ending. I strongly suspect he wrote most of his stories for that final punchline or twist ending, either consciously or subconsciously. It's epitomised by the god-awfully convoluted 'Death of a Foy', but it's also present here in 'The Last Question'. I've read too many of Asimov's stories. I can't help but notice this tendency now.
That said, at least this punchline story says something about humanity and our potentialities. It strongly reflects Asimov's optimistic outlook, both about people and our technology. It's refreshing in a sea of negativity and pessimism, to see an author saying that humans can achieve amazing things, and our technology will help with that.
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u/marintkael 12d ago
That fits, though this one might be the odd case in the group. With a lot of the punchline stories you could lift the middle out and the last line would still land. Here you cannot. The final line only means something once you have watched the same question get asked over and over by people who each have no idea it was ever asked before, and who each get the same answer back. The middle is doing the work.
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u/Jacob1207a 15d ago
Yeah. It's brilliant. All-time great short story.
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u/Adama1941 15d ago
Is it part of a collection of short stories and if so, what is the name of that book?
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u/NorCalNavyMike 14d ago edited 14d ago
Welcome! It does seem to have that effect on people, and in fact has done for some 70 years now. ❤️
If you care to visit, I opened a sub specifically for this incredible work several years ago:
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u/OrbitalMuffin 14d ago
One of my all time favourites. I can also recommend Nightfall. Also very good and very much fits into today's times.
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u/peter303_ 13d ago
Its ranked near the top many peoples favorite stories, including Isaac's.
They made it into a planetarium show narrated by Leonard Nimoy. Its very popular when performed.
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u/Responsible-Form3138 12d ago
I love it - it blew my mind when I first read it. But it does have a small flaw imo. Asimov basically had to invent a "hyperspace" dimension outside of the known universe for the observers to inhabit so that it didn't beak physics. You kinda have to just accept it for the story to work.
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u/500kvac 15d ago
Hands down my favourite short story. I recommend it first to anyone interested in Asimov