Hey all.
I’m trying to find a science fiction story I read a long time ago about how several people had asked their computers over the centuries what would happen when all the stars burned out. The computer kept working on this problem long after the human race was gone and finally figured it out and created light.
Any ideas?
“The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov
It’s The Last Question, by Isaac Asimov. You can read it here.
Asimov once commented that this story was one of his best, that people remembered, but paired with the least memorable title, so that they would always ask him its name, in terms much like the OP.
Anyone else think this was going to be The Nine Billion Names of God?
In which
Some people use a computer to answer a question, and in the end, all the stars go out…
About books?-----Cafe Society. Moved from GQ
samclem, Moderator
The way the question was worded, yes. Especially since the punch lines to the two stories are complete opposites.
INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER
(c’mon, someone had to do it)
It would mean that Davros’s reality bomb was actually succesful
Okay, I’m missing some perfectly obvious reference here, aren’t I?
OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REDO FROM START.a.
Only if you’ve read the story. It’s a recurring line.
I’ve twice seen this story dramatized as a planitarium show. It works really well in that medium.
(The cheese error is a Pratchett reference.)
Check out the linked story (about a ten-minute read, and well worth it).
Okay, that story was a bit dated, but badass.
Looks like someone removed the FTB Enabler file
Geez, if you look at it one way that may be the most depressing story ever written.
That was going to be my guess from the mouseover; then I read the entire OP and realised it was The Last Question.
Personally, I prefer “Error: Divide by cucumber. Please reinstall Universe.”
Yup. “Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.” Best last line of a story EVER.
The answer is 42 - duh. 
Hey, speaking of which, I won a mug and a pen last week guessing the answer to something as 42. It really IS the answer to everything!