Humanity’s Final Goal | Isaac Asimov’s The Last Question

Summary and analysis of the short story The Last Question by Isaac Asimov.

00:00 Intro
00:36 Plot
10:14 Analysis
12:13 Answer
14:07 Optimism and Utopia
15:40 Ultimate Goal For Humanity

[PauloBaptista-ut]

It's mind blowing that this short story was writen 1954 and is at the level of the best hard science fiction made today. Asimov was really a genius.

[sixmike]

man I've read this story a dozen times and have been recommending it to people for years, and I never once pieced together that speaking into the void to communicate with AC is analogous to prayer

[majesticasian]

Bro my jaw dropped when I read the last sentence. It’s actually such an insanely creative idea

[h-cctc]

"THERE IS NOT YET ENOUGH DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER"🗣️🔥🔥🔥

[runekeller]

I remember an Arsimov interview, where he told that this particular story had a strange effect on readers. Alot of people could remember the story but not the title. So whenever he was asked by af fan he interuptet them early and said "the story youre thinking of is The final Question", and very often they gasped in awe convinced he had telepatic abilities.

[ByronC]

This story was written the same year that Color Television made it's debut. A lifetime before the internet was even in it's infancy, much less AI.

[fyradur]

"Let there be light". I like how our ancestors wrote those words down. Such beautiful words. Asimov beautifully echoed this beauty.

[sword]

"Yes, now there is a God" is a chilling line.

[sliggy]

I think being in an infinite loop is the perfect ending, it’s the only way life can keep existing and never have to worry about what’s next

[ramuk]

Air Conditioning, or AC, reduces heat in a room. This AC, the computer, decreases heat (in a thermodynamic sense).
I just had to point that out.

[zeratulcraft]

There's a beautiful line in Ayreon's album "Y", "the meaning of life is to give life meaning."
And another, "I don't want to live in a world that's dying, I want to die in a world that's living."

[HepTunes]

Asimov wrote 16 short stories about Multivac, and yet a collection of these stories has never been printed. Somebody should do something about that.

[derre]

Making myself immortal and reversing entropy have been my primary goals since I was 6 or something, so that would be at least 38 years today. I just called reversing entropy a perpetual motion machine back then. There was no avoiding becoming a physicist, but I have to admit the road has not been a good one for staying optimistic on these matters.

[microaggressions]

The biggest surprise was realizing the white guy's voice talking to me this whole time was a black Bob Ross

[kostailijev]

CONCLUSION: AC finally finds his twin flame, his split-apart, his soulmate--DC--and we have the formation of AC/DC, as well as the hit song "Back in Black!"

[sertaki]

This story's ending always hits hard, no matter how many times I read/hear it.
Same with "The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke. Another great classic sci-fi short story with an incredible last line.

[DavidMcchargue]

Brings back fond memories of sitting in the dark reading awesome sci-fi and being enthralled to discover the next page, chapter, book.

[robertnicoletti]

“Let there be light”
One of my favorite stories.
I love Asimov.

[FilmmakerReactions]

For me Asimov is the greatest sci fi master writer of all time. I read 300 of his books, and he was my inspiration for becoming a writer myself. This is no doubt, his best story ever, along with Nightfall.

[makucevich]

I don't think humanity should have an ultimate goal but rather an abstract purpose. An ultimate goal would be by definition the last one, but an abstract purpose can keep going.