Ultimate Knowledge = Death

[ParanoiA]

Was thinking yesterday about a book my dad told me about many years ago, Something about human advancement, that humans continued to learn and piece together the workings of the universe to the point that eventually the moment came that one of us finally realized the final piece and therefore knew the meaning of why we're here, the purpose and workings of life, time, space, physics, the universe - the ultimate knowledge...and died taking the species with him. Not sure if the earth was destroyed or whatnot, but it was something like that.

 

My dad doesn't remember this book and he's even having a hard time remembering telling me about it....(if memory resilience is hereditary it's not looking good for me...)

 

Anyway, I just found it fascinating how this "knowledge" could cause death, let alone the death of the entire species, or even some other type of destructive outcome - some desecration.

 

Does anyone recognize this idea and what book it might be from? Even if it's not the same one, I would enjoy reading something on it.

[Phi for All]

Does anyone recognize this idea and what book it might be from? Even if it's not the same one, I would enjoy reading something on it.

This sounds really familiar but I don't remember where I heard it (maybe *that's* the final piece of knowledge; if your Dad and I remember what book it's from we're ALL dead ). The way I remember it though, is that the final piece of knowledge gave this guy the ability to communicate it to all humans simultaneously, so we all went, "Oh, how simple!" and then vanished.

 

Sounds Asimovish. I'll check around 'cause it's gonna bug me now.

[Aeternus]

Sounds like the beginning of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (where a woman finally realises the answer to the ultimate question and the planet is destroyed to make way for a space highway ) but given that you seem to be suggesting it spans an entire book and is explored a bit deeply not in a humourous way, I assume that isn't it

[YT2095]

I rem a short story call the "<so many billion> names of God"

and if you were to discover the name it would end Everything.

[Spyman]

Here is a very short story for you:

 

Dwan Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the subether bore throughout the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing.

He straightened and nodded to Dwar Reyn, then moved to a position beside the switch that would complete the contact when he threw it. The switch that would connect, all at once, all of the monster computing machines of all the populated planets in the universe -- ninety-six billion planets -- into the supercircuit that would connect them all into one supercalculator, one cybernetics machine that would combine all the knowledge of all the galaxies.

Dwar Reyn spoke briefly to the watching and listening trillions. Then after a moment's silence he said, "Now, Dwar Ev."

Dwar Ev threw the switch. There was a mighty hum, the surge of power from ninety-six billion planets. Lights flashed and quieted along the miles-long panel.

Dwar Ev stepped back and drew a deep breath. "The honor of asking the first question is yours, Dwar Reyn."

"Thank you," said Dwar Reyn. "It shall be a question which no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer."

He turned to face the machine. "Is there a God?"

The mighty voice answered without hesitation, without the clicking of a single relay.

"Yes, now there is a God."

Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch.

A bolt of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch shut.

 

Fredric Brown, "Answer" 1954 -> http://www.roma1.infn.it/~anzel/answer.html

[YT2095]

is This it: http://www.geocities.com/rojodos/docs/9000000000.htm

[ParanoiA]

Aeternus - I've never read HGTG, but no, I don't think that was it. I was always turned off by the humor angle.

 

YT - I don't think that was it, but still cool nonetheless. Thanks. I just scanned it since I'm at work, but I'll read it when I get home.

 

Spyman - No, that's definitely not it, but that's such a cool angle. There wasn't a god, but there is now - awesome.

 

 

I'm hoping Phi comes through here because that really sounds like it. It was the whole discovery of the method to everything, which thereby caused extinction - vanishing - something to that effect. I would like to incorporate a comparable subplot into a story I'm working on, but I want to avoid a rehash - plus it sounds interesting to think about.

[dichotomy]

Anyway, I just found it fascinating how this "knowledge" could cause death, let alone the death of the entire species, or even some other type of destructive outcome - some desecration.

 

Perhaps the resultant death of the species is merely a metaphor for the death of nature's mysteries? So, an enlightenment, if you will, may cause a profound change in a species psyche, thus destroying an old mindset and producing a new mindset, which would seem like a new species?

[JHAQ]

To me death is the price organisms pay for the ability to reproduce sexualy in terms of genome transmission . Only clones ( except perhaps for their mitichondrial DNA ) & organisms which replicate by fission are essentially immortal . Again , we were "dead" before we were ever conceived & will return to that state of non - sentience , non -existence when we die .