Tuesday, August 15, 2006

The Last Question


My all-time favorite short-story by Isaac Asimov is called "The Last Question"*. It's an amazingly well told, brilliant story. The way the story develops, you'll never guess what Asimov is leading up to, until the very last line. And then it's almost as if the whole Big Bang was repeated in front of you.

How did he manage to write such a story? I cannot begin to imagine.

If you ever get some time read it, it's available online. Hopefully I didn't raise your expectation too much and spoil it for you. I just read it, and I felt exactly the same way I did the first time I read it. Absolute awe at the very idea. And of the mind that produced such an idea.

If you want to maintain the suspense in the story, do not read further.

The idea that the universe is cyclical in nature, and that God is nothing but a universal computer is of course quite astonishing. The idea simultaneously feeds on the eternal curiosity of every human being to resolve the question of life, the universe and everything, our desire to exist forever, and our desire to be at the center of the universe.

The power of the story is something that I cannot explain quite clearly when I try to think about it. Perhaps some of it is the sheer audacity of the tale.

Asimov himself described it as the favorite of all his writings, also describing it as possibly the best science fiction yet written. He describes why he likes it, with a fascinating tale of how people remember the story, but not the title, or even the author - something that I experienced a few months after I first read the story.
Why is it my favorite? For one thing I got the idea all at once and didn't have to fiddle with it; and I wrote it in white-heat and scarcely had to change a word. This sort of things endears any story to any writer.

Then, too, it has had the strangest effect on my readers. Frequently someone writes to ask me if I can give them the name of a story, which they think I may have written, and tell them where to find it. They don't remember the title but when they describe the story it is invariably "The Last Question". This has reached the point where I recently received a long-distance phone call from a desperate man who began, "Dr. Asimov, there's a story I think you wrote, whose title I can't remember—" at which point I interrupted to tell him it was "The Last Question" and when I described the plot it proved to be indeed the story he was after. I left him convinced I could read minds at a distance of a thousand miles.
The idea that the universe is a quantum computer is being studied now, and is described in an interview with a quantum mechanic - Seth Lloyd. His proposal is that every atomic action and reaction is actually a quantum computation. This could lead to the Universe being thought of as one rather large mind, with its thoughts consisting of, among other things, you, me, and the thoughts of Asimov of the universe as a large mind. How's that for a loop?

How would we ever find out if the universe we seem to exist in is actually the fleeting thought of the Universe itself? And why's 42, the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything?

fReaK ouT!

* Its popularity can be gauged by the fact that it has its own Wikipedia page!

6 comments:

Goli said...

Have not read this, will try to read it. One of my favourite stories is "Open Window", by Saki, But just checked and it does not have a wikipedia entry... hehe

Anonymous said...

"Last question" is my first & will probably remain the last story that I have read from asimov. Not that I didnt liked it. On the contrary, it has set my expectations from asimov so high that i wouldnt like him to disappoint me :D

GeekBeyondRedemption said...

Lokesh: That'd be a great pity.

While "The Last Question" certainly has an almost undefinable something which sets it apart from almost every other story I've read, there are quite a few of stories which leave you, if not stirred, at least shaken.

The foundations stories and many of the robot stories, are quite well woven logically. Apart from these his novels are a class apart.

I think I'll review a few more short stories. At least I'll be talking about something I like and know :-)

Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid said...

Dude, I hadn't read that story before, but it was awesome. I wound't say its my favourite Asimov story, but it probably would be if i had read it when i was younger.
I had this book called Opus, which had excerpts of Asimov's writing, on subjects ranging from science fiction to American History to rude limericks. The guy just WROTE!!

Anonymous said...

Asimov rules! Read him when I was 14, and I reckon that's when I first wanted to be a writer. Massive ideas, even if his literary style seems a bit unpolished today. RIP, Doc.

GeekBeyondRedemption said...

Rael, sac: Asimov rocks, even though his characters lack any form of depths.

It's his ideas which are totally startling and grab you.

I've been reading a bit of A.E.Van Vogt, and he's great at writing a very clean, sparse story, which hurtles along and throws you out at the end, gasping for breath.

Try Monster, Cooperate ... Or Else, they're my favorites..