

The Last Answer, by Isaac Asimov - tjaerv
http://www.thrivenotes.com/the-last-answer/

======
ColinWright
People might want to read the comments from two of the previous submissions of
this:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1287594](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1287594)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5585646](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5585646)

In particular, there's a link to "The Last Question"

[http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html](http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html)

That's been submitted before too:

[https://hn.algolia.com/?q=the+last+question#!/story/sort_by_...](https://hn.algolia.com/?q=the+last+question#!/story/sort_by_date/0/the%20last%20question)

~~~
CurtMonash
Even more relevant is the other Multivac story "All the Troubles of the
World", as per
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_Troubles_of_the_World](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_Troubles_of_the_World)

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ekm2
_Murray said, “But the odd integers can be derived. If you divide every even
integer in the entire infinite series by two, you will get another infinite
series which will contain within it the infinite series of odd integers.”_

For S={2,4,6,8...}

S/2={1,2,3,4,..}

I used to think the set of even integers is a subset of the natural
numbers.Doesnt this suggest that the reverse (the set of natural numbers being
a subset of even integers) is actually true?

~~~
pedrosorio
I think what you mean is you used to think that the set of non-negative even
integers was "smaller" than the set of natural numbers. The reason you can do
this is because the set of non-negative even integers has the same cardinality
as the set of naturals (both are countably infinite):
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinality](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinality)

The same is true of the rational numbers, by the way. There is a famous proof
of the fact that there are infinite sets with larger cardinality that the
naturals (the reals for example):
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantor's_diagonal_argument](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantor's_diagonal_argument)

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kordless
It is the awareness that you are immortal that would lead to the desire to end
things (assuming the concept actually exists). Logically, the voice is simply
a conduit to the interconnection (nexus) of all entities. Being singley aware
my own consciousness is immortal and that consciousness is also part of a
greater whole are equally appealing and frightening to me. That duality is
slightly puzzling and interesting.

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biesnecker
I read this every time it appears on the front page, and I enjoy it every
time. Asimov remains an inspiration.

