The Last Question Review

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While one of the shortest stories I’ve reviewed thus far, I’d argue that Isaac Asimov’s “The Last Question” has one of the greatest twists in sci-fi short stories that I’ve ever read. And after doing a deep dive into its history, I’m excited to share my review with you all.

Asimov’s “The Last Question” first appeared in Science Fiction Quarterly in November 1956. The story also appeared in numerous anthologies, such as Nine Tomorrows (1959) and Robot Dreams (1986). It was also one of Asimov’s favorite stories that he ever wrote. It follows a sentient computer known as Multivac, which showed up in other short stories, as humanity throughout the generations asks it about the inevitable end of the universe. The story starts off with humanity exploring other planets, then becoming immortal, and so on. But the question of what happens at the end of the universe still looms.

To me, this was a perfect blend of science fiction and philosophy. It does what good science fiction does best: question and guess at the unknown. But this story also deals with the subject of humanity. Humanity grows closer to the point of becoming god-like, depicted as a natural progression in the face of mounting technology. Technology and humanity’s natural survival end up working together to enter their next and final stages. It also deals with themes of religion, as humanity and technology take on more aspects of the divine. It becomes a question of what technology and humanity become capable of doing in the face of the end of the universe.

I’ll be honest, it took me a minute to understand the time jumps. Jumping from character to character as the Multivac advances meant being introduced to more new characters and only experiencing their thoughts for a brief moment. However, each set of characters came with a clear motivation and goal, and the progression of the story made for a satisfying climax and an epic final line.

“Multivac was self-adjusting and self-correcting. It had to be, for nothing human could adjust and correct it quickly enough or even adequately enough. So Adell and Lupov attended the monstrous giant only lightly and superficially, yet as well as any men could. They fed it data, adjusted questions to its needs, and translated the answers that were issued. Certainly, they, and all others like them, were fully entitled to share in the glory that was Multivac’s.”

I highly recommend this short story as an intro for Asimov. This kind of sci-fi sticks with you. As October ends, I plan to write reviews of recent sci-fi novels I read. Happy reading, and see you all next week!

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