My favorite Asimov story narrated by the inimitable Leonard Nimoy. This is the internet at its best.

@markanthonycoliinson873

2 жыл бұрын

I really like this discussion about rationality with Isaac Asimov. kzread.info/dash/bejne/iIesr7x7oJCYitY.html

Leonard Nimoy reading The Last Question. Life does not get any better than this.

@vincentb251

3 жыл бұрын

It caught me off guard as well... I was like omg yes!

Within the 45 seconds this story has captivated me. Superb.

Terrific narration & incidental music & sound production that makes a montage of transitional times & voices. The whole show is atmospheric, makes you wonder.

Really enjoyed that. RIP..live long and prosper

I never get tired of this story. It’s fantastic.

@markanthonycoliinson873

2 жыл бұрын

I really like this discussion about rationality with Isaac Asimov. kzread.info/dash/bejne/iIesr7x7oJCYitY.html

@SeanTrn

2 жыл бұрын

@@markanthonycoliinson873 ooo thanks for that link! Checking it out now!

Of all SF writers I have enjoyed during the pas 60+ years, Isaac Asimov stands out as the very best. Yes, there are very few others who come close. There are some very underrated former Eastern European writers like Stanislaw Lem, among a few really good ones.

0:00 2061 AD 8:43 circa 3061 14:27 circa 22061 20:06 at least 8 billion years later 26:46 100 billion years later 31:44 10 trillion years later 32:58 end of times?

@tobias5067

3 жыл бұрын

35:00 Beginning of New Game Plus?

Listening because of Isaac Arthur. Great reading by Mr. Spock.

MY God, that was beautiful - and terrifying. What a great start for my journey in audiobooks!

The UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) was the first commercial computer produced in the United States. It was designed principally by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the inventors of the ENIAC.

@Nickelodeon81

Жыл бұрын

I thought AC stood for Analogue Computer

@kiwitrainguy

Жыл бұрын

How about this one: Mathematical, Analyser, Numerical, Integrator, And, Computer = MANIAC.

Hail AC our Lord and Savior! :)

@peggyfranzen6159

4 жыл бұрын

Eeew! That sounds almost like Ellison's " For I Have No Mouth"

Incredible.

the 50s futuristic af

Thanks so much for this.

LET THERE BE LIGHT, and there was light !

the most interesting definition / explanation of God that I know... and also of the beginning of the Universe... and of its end... very special short story by Isaac Asimov read by Leonard Nimoy (Spock)...✨✨✨ a mais interessante definição / explicação de Deus q eu conheci... e do inicio do Universo... e do seu fim também... conto muito especial d Isaac Asimov lido por Leonard Nimoy (Spock)...✨✨✨

@oker59

9 жыл бұрын

Flavio Maria Rossini the "let there be light" at the end is a pun more than anything else.

@ben3000

7 жыл бұрын

or was it? -the ghost of Isaac Asimov

@gavlang

7 жыл бұрын

oker59 how is it a pun.

@oker59

7 жыл бұрын

"The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play that suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect."

@ben3000

7 жыл бұрын

That's not an explanation of how it was a pun. You just defined what a pun is.

I fucking love this! Forever!

I read this 50 years ago. Since then, I.ve thought it was an Arthur Clark story.

It really shows you the difference in their knowledge of intelligence back then with what we know now. By thinking alone you can't invent any new knowledge of untested things. Intelligence is the ability to make predictions based on known things. If we had an artificial intelligence now it would take less than a few seconds to come to the conclusion that under known physics, it takes equal energy to reverse an action as it takes to make that action, so it is impossible. Only if the return bounce was 100% efficient, and also made some useful calculation in a computer happen. Even if that were possible, all matter has a half-life, and we do not know how to "bounce" all of those particles back to their original position and remake the atom that died. The way intelligence works is it can only solve something that it knows about, if you ask a very intelligent person how to make paint, based on the fact that much less intelligent people know how to make paint, he would say that he doesn't know enough about paint to help you. Off the top of my mind I would assume that you mix some sort of glue, like resin or linseed oil, with some sort of very colorful powder obtained either from a plant or animal that color, or some other chemical element that is that color. But just because they know about glue and everything else doesn't mean they know that is how paint is made. And I, in fact, do not actually know how paint is made, I am only speculating. The only way to know for sure is if I did some experiments, that would increase my knowledge and then I would be able to make a firm statement. I will say that if the colorful powder was extracted from a biological system it may change color over time if it decayed. Much like how untreated tea leaves aren't green, they are white-ish grey, they have to add a preservative to maintain the green in green tea. Another example of something you couldn't have figured out without knowing something about tea leaves' colors and their preservation.

We would have been killing huge numbers of "others " to "stave off the end " well before needing other galaxies.

This is amazing! I love this stuff. Can anyone recommend similar Sci Fi?

One thing Isaac didn't think of when writing this is Black Holes and Quantum Gravity. We still don't know enough about Black Holes, much less Quantum Gravity. I know one recent Quantum loop gravity news item that says they've shown that a Black hole leads to a white hole. It goes from one universe to another.

well that was trippy..

Too many galaxies!

One thing I just can't figure out is if they coukd send the computer to hyperspace, why couldn't they do the same with humanity?

@Napoleonic_S

6 жыл бұрын

LordPinochetUTTP Uh but they did, the last humanity merged with the computer in the hyperspace and at the end become god.

@SeanTrn

3 жыл бұрын

Did you not finish the story o_o. They did!

@SeanTrn

3 жыл бұрын

Sorry didn’t notice the comment was 4yr old

can you please add subtitles?

2nd to the last question: is human arrogance, hubris, and melodrama eternal?

Part of the audio isnt working

Now i am affraid to ask where are the toilets ... :/

@peggyfranzen6159

4 жыл бұрын

Don't flush unless you understand vortex physics!

Did Mort Garson do the sound? Very nice.

@guillermosantamarinalagune6184

2 жыл бұрын

Did he?

Where did the video for this come from? Is it accurate to the original planetarium presentation?

@JohnFrenchplanet

5 жыл бұрын

I made it

@TheSolidlad

3 жыл бұрын

@@JohnFrenchplanet Thank you for doing so.

This doesn't end with the great punchline in Asimov's original story. Why not, guys, you left out the best part. :-(

42 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎

Great question?

Does anyone know what the source of this is? Like was it released on an old LP or something like that?

@mortensteen

6 жыл бұрын

I've been looking for it as well. No luck so far.

@jjssbailey

6 жыл бұрын

"The Last Question" was first adapted for the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University (in 1966), featuring the voice of Leonard Nimoy, as Asimov wrote in his autobiography In Joy Still Felt (1980).

@hyloguy6847

6 жыл бұрын

I actually saw the planetarium show you're talking about, as a kid in the seventies, at the Morrison Planetarium at the San Francisco Academy of Sciences. One of my favorite memories of my youth. Such a kick to hear this old soundtrack again. If only it were possible to recapture the visuals of the planetarium show that went with it. They used lasers too. It BLEW MY MIND.

@testodude

4 жыл бұрын

@@hyloguy6847 I saw it as a kid in the 70s as welll In a planetarium In Louisiana. Great memory, and I would love to see it in a planetarium today.

@prestonrodenkirch8412

2 жыл бұрын

To find this story you need to look for a collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov or best sci-fi stories of the year collection. That's the only way I've ever seen it. It's really too short to be published by itself. I suggest an Asimov collection because he has a bunch of great short stories. Don't confuse this story with "The First Question" when you look for it. I made that mistake.

Did the AC become a omnipresent being or a God ?

@christopherbrummet4997

8 жыл бұрын

I think the main idea is that we all merged with AC and became God. Everything created by God has returned and become God. Regardless of your faith, it's brilliant storytelling. :)

@gavlang

7 жыл бұрын

Mercurial 33 same thing

@architrungta120

3 жыл бұрын

@@christopherbrummet4997 I'm not very religious but that's similar to the philosophy of 'advaita vedanta' in Hinduism

@testodude

2 жыл бұрын

I am surprised that billions of years after the original human sun and planet are gone and forgotten, immortal humans still discuss time in earth-years. Also, I think Cosmic AC might be black.

is this the full book?

@hyloguy6847

6 жыл бұрын

It wasn't a book, just a short story. This is pretty much all of it, perhaps just slightly abridged.

Get rid of the background noise

I have to listen to this for a high school class... I'm too dumb to understand what's happening.

the sound effects spoil it

@drsloanski

9 жыл бұрын

Angel Ponce I actually enjoyed the sound effects. Maybe in a different mood I wouldn't but today I did. Adds a bit of "woo woo" sci fi fun to the proceedings.

@camron5788

9 жыл бұрын

David Sloan Covered some audio issues with the mic, sounds good to me. Early in the recording you can hear the mic come on before Mr.Nimoy begins to speak.

@jacderida

8 жыл бұрын

+Ángel Ponce The sound effects are amazing! Gives it more atmosphere.

@hyloguy6847

6 жыл бұрын

They were cool in the seventies. I was there at the planetarium show this soundtrack comes from.

@BrickworksDK

2 жыл бұрын

I have to agree. It makes it really hard to hear the narration in places. And it doesn't really add anything useful to the story. The version on Colum Kelly's channel is much much better.

*Planetary ACs | The Internet* → kzread.info/dash/bejne/lW2Kwct7mtTdmNY.html

X23 is a terrible name for a planet

Hearing Spock is a treat. But we can do without the silly sounds.

@stainlesssteelfox1

2 жыл бұрын

Some of the other voices like the woman and the guy with too much reverb were also hard to make out. A pity, as Leonard Nimoy's narration was excellent.