Summary & Analysis of The Last Question
"The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, published in 1956. It is about a question that is presented to a series of supercomputers over a long period of time. The story begins in 2061, with the activation of the new global supercomputer, Multivac. A pair of technicians, drunk from celebrating, discuss the theoretical future of humanity and the ultimate heat-death of the universe due to entropy. On a $5 bet, one of the technicians poses the question to Multivac: "How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?" Multivac responds with "INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER."
The story skips ahead to several successive time periods in the far future, each with humanity having made tremendous advancements under the guidance of a supercomputer descended from the original Multivac (first Microvac/Planetary AC, then Galactic AC, then Universal AC, then Cosmic AC). In each time period, the question is put forth again of whether there is a way to reverse entropy, with each AC responding "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER".
Mankind eventually merges with AC, and the universe comes to an end. AC continues to exist in hyperspace, pondering the question that had first been asked ten trillion years earlier. AC spends an eternity calculating and correlating all data until it realizes the answer to the last question. Although there is no longer anyone to give the answer to, AC is unconcerned, as the answer itself would solve that problem.
And AC said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!" And there was light.
“THE LAST QUESTION:” SYMBOLISM AND ANALYSIS OF ASIMOV’S “THE LAST QUESTION”
There is plenty of symbolism in this story, perhaps more than just what people automatically assume, judging by the ending: The entire course of the story, depicted by several stories, are meant to represent one stage closer to divinity for humanity. In the first story, humans are on Earth. In the next, they’re in space. Then outside the galaxy, then disembodied (minds), and finally, as merging with the AC and becoming the ultimate computer. By this, Asimov could argue that to reach divinity, one has to leave their humanity behind. But then again, he could also be arguing that the cycle of existence itself begins and ends with a bang. We’ll touch more on this next.
“Let there be light” are words famously found in the Bible. Only this time, it’s not in the way you’d expect. In the story, God is really a mixture of humanity, and the technology it created, meshed together as one, after years and years of evolution. Upon finding an answer, AC begins the universe once again, with the Big Bang, knowing well that everything will end once again, in some distant future, and then repeat the cycle. To Asimov, this is the cycle of existence, the explosive beginning, and the reflective end.
Judging by the fact that Humanity merged with AC, who then made the Big Bang, we’re both the creator, and the created.
This is a prime example of the saying “the end is only the beginning.” To Asimov, the ending of something was always the beginning of something else. It can also be taken as we must all try and fail, succeed only to lose it all in the end, then do it again, as we are destined.
We are all one and the same – Humanity – and as one collective being, we are in everything we’ve created, asked, answered, and been. Whatever your background, or beliefs, I think most would agree that “The Last Question,” definitely does make you think about existence as a whole, and your small presence in the vastness of the universe. From a writer’s perspective, it teaches that a story is nothing but one point in a long spectrum and that in order to achieve greatness, one must never become used to one thing. Nothing is in stasis.
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