The Last Question

[gilsand]

Been pretty quite here...
Three of my favorite authors are Issac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clark, who all have added a foundation of sorts to Last Order.
Asimov developed many of concepts of Robotics, such as the Robots Rules of Order (the three laws of Robotics), Bradbury described the basic concept of how Mars would be Terra formed and colonized, Clark the Communication Satellites and the Tablet computer, (as seen in 2001 A Space Odyssey).
Here is a very short story that might have had some inspiration for Last Order.

http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html
Was Multivax the inspiration for the Jovian Quantum Convergence Observation Unit?
If anything it is a good read.
Also try this link, you might find it entertaining.
http://www.multivax.com/

[kamugin]

Asimov and Frank Herbert (Dune) are my favourites FC writers, though I haven't read many other works besides theirs to say the truth.

The Last Question is the best of Asimov's short stories that I've read. It is very inspiring -- There is no God, the Man himself must aim to be God -- This was what it meant to me. I don't think the JQCOU is a reference to Multivac though. Probably it is Jupiter's dictator or something like the Borg's queen, Multivac isn't anything like that.