The Last Question by Isaac Asimov (1956) (opens in new tab)

'nightfall' is also very good, both the short and novel version. It may have influenced Vernor Vinge's Deepness in the Sky portrayel of the civilization of the intelligent spider creatures who hibernate through the "Deepest Darkness" of their variable sun's long "off" periods where their civilization falls apart.

Asimov's "The Last Answer" is perhaps more profound:

http://www.thrivenotes.com/the-last-answer/

It might have already been posted.

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=the%20last%20question#!/story/fore...

Thank you for posting it. I first reading this story as a teenager. I remember it having an impact on me in a way few stories do. I have re-read it many times since then and it can still take my breath away every time.

This story was first published in 1956. As far as I know, it's still under copyright (I don't know whether the copyright is owned by Asimov's estate, by the publisher, or by someone else).

One of the comments in the older threads mentions how the Multivac represents the opposite of what we got today, because we have so many computers running at the same time (phone, laptop, tv, and tablet currently around me, for instance).

I can't completely agree. Although all these devices might work by themselves. But they are not complete. Each of these machines is currently running software that actively connects one or the other cloud service. Isn't what we have pretty much that Multivac thing? It's not a single big blob somewhere on this planet, but this just makes it way bigger.

One of my favorite short stories.

My favourite Asimov story :3. Also his favourite, IIRC.

This is so old. Have a better story instead: http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/shanidar.htm