Journal

I dreamed about the end of the Universe

16 Comments

I don’t ordinarily talk much about the crap that floats through my brain when I dream. Most of it is uninteresting anyway, since I’m (wait for it…) LIVING the dream these days, but last night’s was an exception.

There’s this Isaac Asimov story about Entropy called “The Last Question.” The text is here. If you’re familiar with the story, head behind the cut. If you’re not and you don’t mind a bit of a spoiler, head behind the cut. If you want to read the story for yourself first, well, the link is right there.

In the story there’s a universal computer, and throughout the ages people ask it the question “is there a way to reverse entropy?” See, the universe will run down at some point, and THEN what? At the end of the story the computer, now living in hyperspace, finds the answer.

In my dream, I was living towards the end of all things. That phrase from Return of The King cropped up a lot: “here we are at the end of all things.” Well, I KNEW the computer would figure out an answer, but it didn’t make me feel better because the shopping mall was all but empty, and yet for some reason there was a shortage of parking spaces.

That’s pretty much it. I know, I know. You’re saying “I read that story, and then headed behind a cut tag for THIS??” Hey, I’m relating a DREAM. If it was going to be a proper STORY I would have drawn goofy pictures and put it in my comic strip.

–Howard

16 thoughts on “I dreamed about the end of the Universe”

    1. At least “The Last Question” is a good story, anyway. 🙂 And it’s why editors don’t publish stories that end with “and let there be light” any more. 😀

    1. Coincidentally enough, I was reading a similar article in Popular Mechanics just this morning…

      That Asimov story is one of my favourites. Another one of his that stands out is The Machine That Won The War. Of course, the list wouldn’t be complete without an entry from my other favourite sci fi author: The Nine Billion Names Of God. Unfortunately a quick google didn’t turn up the text for either. :-/

  6. I’d read it a while ago, but thanks for the pointer.

    One question, though: How do we know this hasn’t already happened? If it has, what does that imply about the nature of the Creator (for those of you who believe in such things)?

  7. Of course, it must be said that most people don’t have the slightest grasp how how immensely, almost unimaginably distant the “end of all things”, the heat-death of the universe, is. The age of nucleonic matter barely gets a momentary mention in the prologue.

    And who knows, by then we may well have learned how to make our own.

  8. I love that story! Thanks for the link; I enjoyed rereading it. The Nine Billion Names of God is another one I adore; wasn’t that Arthur C. Clarke’s work?

  9. On a totally unrelated note…

    When you get around to publishing your first two years in book for (I know the art sucks, but we’ll buy it anyway), the title for the first one is _obviously_ going to be “step away from the tub of happiness” (with the cover art presumably being from that strip).

    But the title for the _second_ year book should also be from a second year strip, and there’s only really one candidate:

    http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20010727.html

    “It’s easier to be enthusiastic if you don’t think about it.”

    Rob

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