On Tue, 20 Mar 2001, Dave Sherohman wrote: > On Tue, Mar 20, 2001 at 06:52:13PM -0600, Jamie Ostrowski wrote: > > Scientists were preparing an experiment to ask the ultimate question. > > They had worked for months gathering one each of every computer that was > > built. Finally the big day was at hand. All the computers were linked > > together. They asked the question, "Is there a God?". Lights started > > blinking, flashing and blinking some more. Suddenly, there was a loud > > crash, and a bolt of lightning came down from the sky, struck the > > computers, and welded all the connections permanently together. "There > > is now", came the reply. > > Probably not the one you're looking for, but... > > Sounds kinda like an Asimov short which runs through a series of (seven?) > scenes with the most powerful computer in each era being asked if there's a > way to reverse entropy. In the final scene, the heat death of the universe > is near, everything but the computer has died out billions of years ago, and > it is barely able to subsist on the dim light of the few remaining stars when > it discovers the means to reverse entropy and speaks: "Let there be light." > > According to a quick google search, the Asimov story's title is "The Last > Question". The only U.S.-hosted online copy I turned up is at > http://www.sauke.net/~christda/lastq.htm for anyone who hasn't read it. > Asimov said that it was his favorite out of all the short stories he's > written and also the one people most often forgot that he wrote - but they > always remembered the story, which is all he cared about. Definitely worth a > (re)read. The one I always like is "The Nine Billion Names of God," by Asimov. In that one, the field service engineer from the big computer company had been working in the Himalayas where they'd sold a period equivalent of a supercomputer to some Buddhist monks. In the story, he stood outside the monastery walls late one night having a smoke, thinking about this idea that Judgment Day would arrive when man knew all the names of God. Looking at his watch, he realized that the last run should be finished in a couple of minutes. As he finished his cigarette, he watched as the stars began to go out, one by one. Phil M -- "To misattribute a quote is unforgivable." --Anonymous