The Last Question Isaac Asimov Analysis

We are only a brief second in the long history of the universe; many things have preceded us to make us the most complex creatures that ever walked the Earth. We are a “new level of complexity” which makes us different from all other creatures that have come before us. Our species has only been around for 250,000 years, a short time compared to the formation of the Earth at 4.5 billion years ago and the creation of the Universe at 13.7 billion years ago, but the time we have had on this Earth has greatly affected the outcome of history. In an attempt to provide an overview of human history in his book This Fleeting World, David Christian introduces it in the context of the history of the universe and then systematically breaks it down

Effectively, his deliberate use of syntax creates a structure in his essay which immerses the reader into the passage and allows his message to be conveyed. Often in the essay, he adopts compound-complex sentence structures to maximize his level of description and to fully establish the imagery he intends to create. Moreover, when he establishes depictions of action, motion, and speed, he creates considerably longer compound-complex sentences; using five or more clauses and at least one dash to thoroughly depict action, to eliminate any sense of pause, and to fully intrigue his readers. Such a usage of syntax is also parallel to when he writes that “...it was filled with motion, speed.” His lack of “and” but rather the word “speed” preceding a comma further represents the elimination of a sense of pause and his use of syntax in order to create a sense of speed and intensity. In the last paragraph, he continues his extensive use of compound-complex sentences and he suddenly slows down and ends his final part on shorter complex sentences.

Here Vonnegut highlights one of the main themes throughout the book, that humanity does not necessarily benefit from knowledge, progress, our powerful minds that we often view only as a strength. As where the tiger and bird are born to fly and hunt, man seems to be born to think, and at the end of the day, when the tiger has hunted to its heart content and the bird is through with flying, they can cease their activity and carry on with their stable lives. Man on the other hand, not placated by thinking, constantly tries to make sense of the world around him, to no success and no purpose. Another calypso, found on page 127, goes as;

The humans “all believe that they are- that they are eternal, that they are Immortal” (31), and the narrator denies it came from him. However, just in the way that line is written, with the repetition of words, like trying to get the reader to believe him when he himself is second guessing his own words, he is telling the truth. Delusions are at the root of the world’s problems, but he admits that he has a delusion, too. “Sometimes I have this weird idea that I am just a…schoolmaster who never did anything or went anywhere and is now painfully and noisily dying of solar radiation along with everybody else,” this thought seems very easily true, and he even starts to second-guess is own memories, seeing as being human is so conceivably possible it can’t be true. A turning point is later on, when the narrator firsts calls him and the humans as one, “we wail and dance and shake our heads. We cackle with cancers, we fizz with synergisms…” (32). This use of we shows the fever, the delusions, his slipping mindset that reveals his mortality, his indistinguishability of the people around him suffering the same

Koons starts off the intro of her satirical essay by using sarcasm and rhetorical in order to show the audience what is happening with the world at that time and establish the satire of her essay. In the first sentence, Koons claims that robots are better than humans, as they are humans “favorite things”, suggesting that the humans basically created their own “better” version. Koons utilizes a rhetorical question to ask why humans “are still there”, showcasing the dispensability and non-necessity of humans when robots are present. By doing so, Koons demonstrates that humans have, in a way, become the cause of their own downfall.

Since the dawn of mankind, clusters of innovations throughout history have allowed for societal progression at an explosive rate. While primarily fostering a centrifugal system of advancements; humans’ interests in expansion is spiraling out of control. Throughout history elements of collapse can be traced through civilizations and natural resources. Wright’s argument posits humans have hyperextended their utilization of resources at a rate that cannot be replenished, therein by setting up the world for the largest ecological collapse in history (Wright, 2004, pg. 130-131). Due to the cyclical process of past collapse and reformation humans have an advantage to rectify our current consumption rates ultimately avoiding a fate similar to past societies (Wright, 2004, pg. 131). As such Wright’s argument should frame larger discussions of responsible citizenship.

Another blatant syntax technique the author uses is telegraphic sentences. “ It is everlasting wrath” (Page 4 Line 101) is the

I agree with what Micromegas says about humans. We need to write our own history we can’t take one that has already happened. If we truly are supposed to be here we have to prove it. The story hints towards humans destroying earth and their existence. Humans tend to only think about themselves and not of others. One point that I think Micromegas and Voltaire missed was that humans should be understood for their ignorance and not their wisdom. Humans make mistakes and aren’t perfect. The blank book is for the humans to understand themselves rather than Micromegas understanding humans. “He promised to make them a beautiful philosophical book, written very small for their usage, and said that in this book they would see the point of everything. Indeed, he gave them this book before leaving. It was taken to the academy of science in Paris, but when the ancient secretary opened it, he saw nothing but blank pages. "Ah!" he said, "I suspected as much"(60). I believe that there is no point of everything. It is up to each of us to write our own meaning in our life into our very own

Samuel Scheffler’s “Death and the Afterlife”, provides examples in which to show that the importance of humanity as a whole is far greater then we choose to admit. The primary example is the asteroid example, in which he states: “Suppose you knew that, although you yourself would live a normal life span, the earth would be completely destroyed thirty days after your death in a collision with a giant asteroid” (Scheffler 18). By using this, he tries to argue that both our short term and long term goals will cease due to the impending demise of humanity. However, I personally do not believe that human beings will allow this to happen. In this essay, I will argue that Scheffler is incorrect in his belief that an individual’s interest in life will be lost in life due to the impending doom of humanity as a whole.

The differences in recent years of meanings and expectations of The Singularity with ideas we as a class have encountered about views of the future differ in that in recent years media has constructed a technology growth towards The Singularity as something pessimistic while the reading we have done in class have been optimistic in terms of the existence of the human species. We read about how the British Industrial Revolution’s main goal was to better the existence of the human race. A lot of times this was accompanied with attitudes of elitism and racism from those that believed in the fundamental benefits that creating new technologies could bring. In contrast, in recent years movies such as Ex-Machina have viewed “The Singularity” as a

The last two lines act as a slap in the face. Every element works toward death, and the speaker almost slips into eternal rest. One can see him, putting the

The evolution of the universe and our behaviour throughout history. I will set out to consider Laura Moriarty: Plateau (2011) and Mary Mattingly: Pull detail, (2013) in relation to “Minimal Ethics for the Anthropocene,” Joanna Zylinska, (2014). I will consider our human responsibility for the world and show the changes and composition of life through human relations and ethic towards the universe. And can we re-evaluate our minimal ethics, while there’s still time for changes.

This is my least favorite story of all those I have read. After all, I undertook (against my own will) to read “several trillion years of human history in the space of a short story” and boy, it was far from successful (Asimov 1). I also “undertook another task” (1): making sure no one else endures the suffering I went through. “It is a curious fact” that Isaac Asimov wrote this story in the first place (1). Thanks to the monotonous and repetitive nature of the writing, no one will ever “remember the title of the story or (for sure) the author” (1). Throughout “The Last Question,” Asimov crafts a dreadful, boring tale through the lack of relatable characters, use of outdated technology, absence of action

In the short story The Library of the Babel written by Jorge Luis Borges, suggests how written language and orthographic conventions limit our understanding of the universe. While knowledge from language helps decipher what is what is known; could it also expose us to what is unknown in the universe? Within The Library of the Babel the ideas of the awareness of the questions that emerge with intelligence of certain topics and the lack of knowledge in regards to understanding the vastness of the universe. Along with the simplistic conventions of language, these topics are prevalent in interpreting how limiting our cultural symbolic system is in determining answers to complex concepts of the universe. The humans historical relation to the world

“The relationship between the energies of the inquiring mind that an intelligent reader brings to the poem and the poem’s refusal to yield a single comprehensive interpretation enacts vividly the everlasting intercourse between the human mind, with its instinct to organise and harmonise, and the baffling powers of the universe about it.”