colinricardo

The Last Question by Isaac Asimov © 1956 
The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first  stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it  happened this way: 
Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of Multivac. As well as any human  beings could, they knew what lay behind the cold, clicking, flashing face -- miles and miles of face -- of  that giant computer. They had at least a vague notion of the general plan of relays and circuits that had  long since grown past the point where any single human could possibly have a firm grasp of the whole. 
Multivac was self-adjusting and self-correcting. It had to be, for nothing human could adjust and correct it  quickly enough or even adequately enough -- so Adell and Lupov attended the monstrous giant only  lightly and superficially, yet as well as any men could. They fed it data, adjusted questions to its needs  and tran