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AC spends an eternity calculating and correlating all data, until it realizes the answer to the last question. AC continues to exist in hyperspace, pondering the question that had first been asked ten trillion years earlier. Mankind eventually merges with AC, and the universe comes to an end. In each time period, the question is put forth again of whether there is a way to reverse entropy, with each AC responding "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER". The story skips ahead to several successive time periods in the far future, each with humanity having made tremendous advancements under the guidance of a supercomputer descended from the original Multivac (first Microvac/Planetary AC, then Galactic AC, then Universal AC, then Cosmic AC). On a $5 bet, one of the technicians poses the question to Multivac: "How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?" Multivac responds with "INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER". A pair of technicians, drunk from celebrating, discuss the theoretical future of humanity and the ultimate heat-death of the universe due to entropy. The story begins in 2061, with the activation of the new global supercomputer, Multivac. It is about a question that is presented to a series of supercomputers over a long period of time. "The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, published in 1956. Birzer, a professor at Hillsdale College who holds a chair named for Kirk, fills a need with his lucid and ambitious biography. He did earn numerous adversaries, including Hayek and Frank Meyer, who in retrospect appear more like ambivalent friends, but the staying power of Kirk’s congeniality seems to have softened objections to his most resolute opinions.īradley J. In this regard, Kirk is the victim of his virtues: he was less polarizing, celebrated by followers and detractors alike for his measured temperament and learned judgments. Hayek, Eric Voegelin, and Leo Strauss - have received more attention. Fellow conservatives, many of them friends or colleagues of Kirk’s - like T. Their harsh, uncouth rhetoric stands in marked contrast to the writings of Russell Amos Kirk, a founding father of modern American conservatism.īooks on Kirk exist, but they’re few. The leading Republican candidates, including frontrunners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, have resorted to showmanship and grandstanding to make their case for the party nomination. THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES are at last upon us. |