On Sun, Jun 28, 1998 at 05:09:01PM -0700, Akito Tenkawa wrote:

Sort of reminds me of the old Asimov story, the one that tells the end
of his "human race dependant on computers" one in which the huge
mega-computer eventually outlives a super-evolved human race and in
answer to question it has nearly forgotten about and never answered it
says, "Let there be light." Kind of neat, though it would definetily

This would be "The Last Question".  (Although the "human race dependent
upon computers" bit makes me wonder if you aren't, at least partially,
confusing it with "The Feeling of Power".)

However, the computer didn't really outlive the human race, but rather
merged with it.  Also, the question wasn't "nearly forgotten" -- towards
the end, the computer existed only for the sake of the question, which
amounted to, "How can entropy be reversed?"

Interestingly enough, the copy I have has the following annotation:

   It is a curious fact that innumerable readers have asked me if I
   wrote this story.  They seem never to remember the title of the
   story or (for sure) the author, except for the vague thought that
   it might be me.[Asimov, that is. :)]  But, of course, they never
   forget the story itself, especially the ending.  The idea seems to
   drown out everything else -- and I'm satisfied that it should.

-- 
  -Sean Connor (sec@softhome.net)

    The day Microsoft produces something that doesn't suck is
    the day they start making vacuum cleaners.