Predictions of the Future in Isaac Asimov’s “Nightfall” and “The Last Question”
By: Zachary Defrancis
Isaac Asimov is famous for the new and different ideas he pioneered in his books. Ideas like the Three Laws of Robotics in his Robot series, or psychohistory in the Foundation series are great examples of ideas that drew a large audience into science fiction during the World War II and Cold War eras. Though these ideas and specific series were largely popular, Asimov also wrote many notable short stories that critiqued and delved into several issues in modern society. In two of his famous short stories, “Nightfall” and “The Last Question,” Asimov shows the plight of society trying to do the impossible: cheat fate. The civilizations are faced with the same impending doom, much as all societies will be, in both of these stories. One group, in “Nightfall,” is faced with immediate destruction, while the other, in “The Last Question,” is faced with impending ruin far in the future. In both stories, Asimov plays on natural human fears by introducing this idea of death and total destruction. Through this, Asimov shows that this fear of impending death can drive a society to new heights as it tries its best to avoid destruction (“The Last Question”), but all too often the fear of death instead can cause a society to quickly go mad (“Nightfall”). Through these stories, Asimov also attempts to mirror what he believes society will come to when faced with the terror. Both of these famous fiction stories in reality are Asimov’s critiques on society and its actions toward an impending annihilation.
Asimov comes at the situation of total destruction and how a populace will react in two separate ways. When civilization is faced with death, the problem is not avoiding fate, which is impossible, but how society faces that fate. In “The Last Question,” from the beginning the people, at the time based on Earth, have little knowledge of what the future brings. Despite this, they still know that at some point far in the future entropy, or the general breaking down of matter into energy over time, will break down the sun, Earth’s chief power source. There is no apparent way to solve the problem, but it is not a worry to the current world because it will not take place for billions of years. As the story progresses and time advances, the society reaches new heights of technological knowledge and efficiency in an attempt to combat entropy. In this scenario, civilization faced their fate in a calm manner. Instead of panicking, the society looked at the problem, thoroughly studied it, and put forward countless viable solutions to fix it. When the people in this story recognized their fate, they knew it would take place far in the future and in knowing this they were able to meticulously analyze the problem with a composed state of mind.
In comparison to “The Last Question,” another of Asimov’s famous short stories, “Nightfall,” looks at the end of humanity in a different light. In the story, Lagash is faced with what is seen as an immediate end of civilization. A group of scientists realize that in two months the planet will enter a “dark period” and make an attempt to prepare the people for the dark period which has the power to destroy civilization. Their attempts to warn the people are widely ridiculed or ignored. Having never experienced complete darkness before, the scientists know that civilization would go crazy from fear and grief. Just as the scientists predicted, the world passes into darkness. Instantly, fear consumes the population, and even the scientists were not immune. The planet was suddenly facing its perceived end, and there was no way out. Because of this, the people of Lagash went insane with terror and anguish caused by their imminent death. Civilization was fully dependent on light to get through each and every day, but without it they could do nothing but panic. Asimov again shows through this story the effects that fear has on civilization. Fear is always present, but when suddenly faced with it, when there is no way around it, when there is no warning it will cause society to quickly fall into disarray and confusion. The contrasting circumstances in which this civilization recognized their fate, and the fact that they had no hope to change their fate, was the main factor that led to the reaction they exhibited.
Through these stories, Asimov is comparing these fictional civilizations to our current world. Just as the groups in these stories, our own society will eventually reach an end. Whether it be sudden, or far in the future, an end will surely come. “Nightfall” focuses on the former of the two situations. In the story, the circumstances in which the group recognizes the fate they must suffer caused the crazed response they exhibited. A factor contributing to the response of the people is the manner in which civilization would end. All the people ever saw was light and suddenly it was gone. This absence of light is the main cause of the frenzy because the people simply could not fathom a world full of darkness. Differing circumstances in “The Last Question” lead to a much different reaction of society. Much like our own world, the people in this story are expecting an end far in the future. The response they made to their fate was calm and controlled because of the longer time frame. This time frame allowed the society to have some hope of controlling their fate, and the presence of hope made a sizable difference in their response. They knew they had billions of years to attempt to find a way to change their fate. The situation was not immediate so more thought and planning could be put into the solution that they attempted to come up with.
By coming at this issue from two different angles, Asimov exemplifies the idea that the way we react to our fate is based on the circumstances in which we face it and apply it to our current world. Though these two stories are fantastical works of fiction, both are Asimov’s perception on what the world will eventually come to in the future. In reality, we are currently taking steps to “save our planet” by doing things like recycling or using alternative energy. In our modern world we are just now getting to the point where we care about the future of Earth. Over the past few years there have been an innumerable amount of advancements in technology, all because of the fear that in the future everything will be destroyed. These things that we are now doing are comparable to the things being done at the beginning of “Nightfall.” Asimov knew this, and from then on he predicts that we will begin to greatly advance our technological capacities so as to try and avoid our fate. From a different perspective, if we are faced with circumstances of an immediate and hopeless doom, Asimov predicts that we will go insane and suffer through to the end. This prediction is based on the tenet that a human, when faced with a sudden and drastic change, will oftentimes not be able to handle the alteration. The people in the story were dealt a huge blow when their sun disappeared. If we ever faced such a radical change like this on Earth, we too would act in the same way as the people in “The Last Question.” These two predictions made by Asimov were veiled by the stories, but they still shine through as reasonable forecast of what could possibly happen in the future.
In both of these stories, fear plays an important role in the advancement, and destruction, of society. Asimov carries the same idea of death and destruction through both stories to show how society would react in differing situations. In both situations, no matter what attempts are made to overcome the inevitable fate given to each civilization, it always fails. Fear drove the people in both stories to do things that would normally not be done, like speedy technological advancement in “The Last Question,” or the total breaking down of society into madness in “Nightfall.” With these two examples, Asimov gives a striking prediction on how our own society would handle, or currently is handling, such a catastrophe. No matter what the groups in both stories do, they can find no concrete way to cheat fate. Whether they spend billions of years or just a few short months attempting to find a solution to the problem, in the end the inevitable cannot be avoided. Both stories serve as an interesting and thoughtful critique on what society can come to when faced with a frightening problem. Ultimately, through these stories Asimov shows that human fear is the catalyst of change in many situations and that the avoidance of a terrifying situation can often be dealt with in an unusual manner.
Asimov comes at the situation of total destruction and how a populace will react in two separate ways. When civilization is faced with death, the problem is not avoiding fate, which is impossible, but how society faces that fate. In “The Last Question,” from the beginning the people, at the time based on Earth, have little knowledge of what the future brings. Despite this, they still know that at some point far in the future entropy, or the general breaking down of matter into energy over time, will break down the sun, Earth’s chief power source. There is no apparent way to solve the problem, but it is not a worry to the current world because it will not take place for billions of years. As the story progresses and time advances, the society reaches new heights of technological knowledge and efficiency in an attempt to combat entropy. In this scenario, civilization faced their fate in a calm manner. Instead of panicking, the society looked at the problem, thoroughly studied it, and put forward countless viable solutions to fix it. When the people in this story recognized their fate, they knew it would take place far in the future and in knowing this they were able to meticulously analyze the problem with a composed state of mind.
In comparison to “The Last Question,” another of Asimov’s famous short stories, “Nightfall,” looks at the end of humanity in a different light. In the story, Lagash is faced with what is seen as an immediate end of civilization. A group of scientists realize that in two months the planet will enter a “dark period” and make an attempt to prepare the people for the dark period which has the power to destroy civilization. Their attempts to warn the people are widely ridiculed or ignored. Having never experienced complete darkness before, the scientists know that civilization would go crazy from fear and grief. Just as the scientists predicted, the world passes into darkness. Instantly, fear consumes the population, and even the scientists were not immune. The planet was suddenly facing its perceived end, and there was no way out. Because of this, the people of Lagash went insane with terror and anguish caused by their imminent death. Civilization was fully dependent on light to get through each and every day, but without it they could do nothing but panic. Asimov again shows through this story the effects that fear has on civilization. Fear is always present, but when suddenly faced with it, when there is no way around it, when there is no warning it will cause society to quickly fall into disarray and confusion. The contrasting circumstances in which this civilization recognized their fate, and the fact that they had no hope to change their fate, was the main factor that led to the reaction they exhibited.
Through these stories, Asimov is comparing these fictional civilizations to our current world. Just as the groups in these stories, our own society will eventually reach an end. Whether it be sudden, or far in the future, an end will surely come. “Nightfall” focuses on the former of the two situations. In the story, the circumstances in which the group recognizes the fate they must suffer caused the crazed response they exhibited. A factor contributing to the response of the people is the manner in which civilization would end. All the people ever saw was light and suddenly it was gone. This absence of light is the main cause of the frenzy because the people simply could not fathom a world full of darkness. Differing circumstances in “The Last Question” lead to a much different reaction of society. Much like our own world, the people in this story are expecting an end far in the future. The response they made to their fate was calm and controlled because of the longer time frame. This time frame allowed the society to have some hope of controlling their fate, and the presence of hope made a sizable difference in their response. They knew they had billions of years to attempt to find a way to change their fate. The situation was not immediate so more thought and planning could be put into the solution that they attempted to come up with.
By coming at this issue from two different angles, Asimov exemplifies the idea that the way we react to our fate is based on the circumstances in which we face it and apply it to our current world. Though these two stories are fantastical works of fiction, both are Asimov’s perception on what the world will eventually come to in the future. In reality, we are currently taking steps to “save our planet” by doing things like recycling or using alternative energy. In our modern world we are just now getting to the point where we care about the future of Earth. Over the past few years there have been an innumerable amount of advancements in technology, all because of the fear that in the future everything will be destroyed. These things that we are now doing are comparable to the things being done at the beginning of “Nightfall.” Asimov knew this, and from then on he predicts that we will begin to greatly advance our technological capacities so as to try and avoid our fate. From a different perspective, if we are faced with circumstances of an immediate and hopeless doom, Asimov predicts that we will go insane and suffer through to the end. This prediction is based on the tenet that a human, when faced with a sudden and drastic change, will oftentimes not be able to handle the alteration. The people in the story were dealt a huge blow when their sun disappeared. If we ever faced such a radical change like this on Earth, we too would act in the same way as the people in “The Last Question.” These two predictions made by Asimov were veiled by the stories, but they still shine through as reasonable forecast of what could possibly happen in the future.
In both of these stories, fear plays an important role in the advancement, and destruction, of society. Asimov carries the same idea of death and destruction through both stories to show how society would react in differing situations. In both situations, no matter what attempts are made to overcome the inevitable fate given to each civilization, it always fails. Fear drove the people in both stories to do things that would normally not be done, like speedy technological advancement in “The Last Question,” or the total breaking down of society into madness in “Nightfall.” With these two examples, Asimov gives a striking prediction on how our own society would handle, or currently is handling, such a catastrophe. No matter what the groups in both stories do, they can find no concrete way to cheat fate. Whether they spend billions of years or just a few short months attempting to find a solution to the problem, in the end the inevitable cannot be avoided. Both stories serve as an interesting and thoughtful critique on what society can come to when faced with a frightening problem. Ultimately, through these stories Asimov shows that human fear is the catalyst of change in many situations and that the avoidance of a terrifying situation can often be dealt with in an unusual manner.