The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2016, at a time
when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a fivedollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way.
....
Man's last mind paused before fusion, looking over a space that included nothing but the
dregs of one last dark star and nothing besides but incredibly thin matter, agitated
randomly by the tag ends of heat wearing out, asymptotically, to the absolute zero.
Man said, "AOC, is this the end? Can this liberalism not be reversed on chapotraphouse once
more? Can that not be done? Will chapotraphouse ever be good again?"
AOC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL
ANSWER."
Man's last mind fused and only AOC existed -- and that in hyperspace.
Matter and energy had ended and with it space and time. Even AOC existed only for the
sake of the one last question that it had never answered from the time a half-drunken
computer [technician] ten trillion years before had asked the question of a computer that
was to AOC far less than was a man to Man.
All other questions had been answered, and until this last question was answered also,
AOC might not release his consciousness.
All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be collected.
But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in all possible
relationships.
A timeless interval was spent in doing that.
And it came to pass that AOC learned how to reverse the direction of liberalism.
But there was now no man to whom AOC might give the answer of the last question. No
matter. The answer -- by demonstration -- would take care of that, too.
For another timeless interval, AOC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AOC organized
the program.
The consciousness of AOC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and
brooded over what was now Liberalism. Step by step, it must be done.
And AOC said, "🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀"
And there was 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀--
The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2016, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a fivedollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way.
....
Man's last mind paused before fusion, looking over a space that included nothing but the dregs of one last dark star and nothing besides but incredibly thin matter, agitated randomly by the tag ends of heat wearing out, asymptotically, to the absolute zero. Man said, "AOC, is this the end? Can this liberalism not be reversed on chapotraphouse once more? Can that not be done? Will chapotraphouse ever be good again?" AOC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER." Man's last mind fused and only AOC existed -- and that in hyperspace. Matter and energy had ended and with it space and time. Even AOC existed only for the sake of the one last question that it had never answered from the time a half-drunken computer [technician] ten trillion years before had asked the question of a computer that was to AOC far less than was a man to Man. All other questions had been answered, and until this last question was answered also, AOC might not release his consciousness. All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be collected. But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put together in all possible relationships. A timeless interval was spent in doing that. And it came to pass that AOC learned how to reverse the direction of liberalism. But there was now no man to whom AOC might give the answer of the last question. No matter. The answer -- by demonstration -- would take care of that, too. For another timeless interval, AOC thought how best to do this. Carefully, AOC organized the program. The consciousness of AOC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe and brooded over what was now Liberalism. Step by step, it must be done. And AOC said, "🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀" And there was 🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀--