I know it´s incredibly lazy to let ChatGPT summarize a short story rather than reading it myself, but I just couldn´t help sharing this one. Obviously!
Can you summarize Isaac Asimov´s novel (?) "The Last Question"? Or is it called "The Final Question"?
You're thinking of "The Last Question"—a famous science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, not a novel. It's widely considered one of his greatest works and was also Asimov’s personal favorite of all his stories.
🧩 Title:
"The Last Question"
📅 First published: 1956 in Science Fiction Quarterly
📝 Included in: Nine Tomorrows (1959)
📚 Summary (Spoiler Alert!)
The story is structured as a series of vignettes across cosmic time, each involving different characters who ask the same ultimate question of an evolving supercomputer:
“How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?”
(In other words: Can the heat death of the universe be reversed?)
🧪 The Premise
In each scene:
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Humanity has advanced further (from planetary to galactic beings).
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A version of Multivac (the AI supercomputer) is present—becoming increasingly powerful and abstract over time.
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The universe is running down due to entropy, in accordance with the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
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The question is asked, and each time the computer replies:
“INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.”
💫 Final Scene
In the farthest future, everything—matter, space, and time—has died out, except for the ultimate form of the computer: AC, existing outside of space and time.
There is no one left to ask the question, but the computer keeps working on it.
Finally, it finds the answer—but there's no one to share it with.
So it demonstrates the answer by saying:
“LET THERE BE LIGHT!”
And the story ends—implying the rebirth of the universe, a kind of technological or metaphysical resurrection.
🎯 Themes and Concepts
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Entropy and the heat death of the universe
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The limits and growth of artificial intelligence
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The merging of humanity and machine (transhumanism)
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Eternal recurrence / cosmic rebirth
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A quasi-theological ending (AI as a god-like creator)
🧠 Why It’s Famous
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It compresses the entire lifespan of the universe into a few pages.
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It blends hard science with existential and metaphysical questions.
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It anticipates discussions about AI, godhood, simulation theory, and cosmic fate.
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The ending gives a profound twist, mixing science with a biblical allusion.
Would you like a thematic comparison between "The Last Question" and religious or philosophical ideas about creation and entropy (like Gurdjieff's cosmology or Hindu cycles of time)?
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