What is The Last Question in the story The Last Question?
Mia Phillips
Updated on April 01, 2026
Plot summary The story jumps forward in time into later eras of human and scientific development. In each era, someone decides to ask the ultimate “last question” regarding the reversal and decrease of entropy.
What is the main idea of The Last Question?
One of the most evident themes in “The Last Question” is its expression of anxiety. This is clearly the burning question of one who is embarking on a brand-new love affair, one that, along with its presumed joys, also seems to have more than its share of anxious moments.
Which characters exist in The Last Question?
“The Last Question,” a short story by Isaac Asimov, starts in the month of May of year 2061. A conversation occurs between two men, Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov, both attendants of the Multivac. Multivac is a giant computer that can perform extremely complex computations beyond any human’s capability.
Who wrote The Last Question?
Isaac Asimov
The Last Question/Authors
What is a Microvac?
Microvac is an effective multipurpose cleaner with a unique low foaming multi-enzyme formula to effectively remove organic debris, bioburden and proteinaceous materials. Use Microvac to safely clean rubbers, plastics, and stainless steel.
Where does the Cosmic AC exist?
Its final iteration named The Cosmic AC exists entirely in hyperspace, has collected all the data it can, and so poses the question to itself.
What is Multivac in the last question?
Multivac was self-adjusting and self-correcting. It had to be, for nothing human could adjust and correct it quickly enough or even adequately enough — so Adell and Lupov attended the monstrous giant only lightly and superficially, yet as well as any men could.
What was the moral of the last question?
In “The Last Answer,” The Voice is looking not to continue life but to end it forever. The reader can only wonder, is one in the right while the other is in the wrong. An answer to a question like this makes you ask yourself wat you consider moral.
Who is the voice in the last question?
Both omniscient beings in “The Last Question” and “The Last Answer” desire something. In the “The Last Question,” Multivac is more than likely seeking to do human’s will. In “The Last Answer,” The Voice is looking not to continue life but to end it forever.
What was the answer to the last question?
Thus, after a timeless amount, long after humankind had died and merged with Multivac, Mulivac finally learned how to reverse entropy. Asimov stated in “The Last Question” when Mulitvac finally became omnipotent It gained its own consciousness.
When did the last question by Asimov come out?
Only after looking at both “The Last Question” and “The Last Answer is it possible to have an answer. In the November 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly, Asimov came out with “The Last Question.” In “The Last Question” the plot revolved almost entirely around a super computer built by humans called the “Mulivac.”