Sustainability In Isaac Asimov's The Last Question

In Isaac Asimov’s “The Last Question”, the problem of entropy and its effect on humanity is addressed but never has a solution. Time simply starts over again when the universe has died off. The exploitation of one thermal resource after another never turns out to be sustainable in terms of entropy. The question arises of what the point of sustainability of resources is when faced with the ultimate combustion of the universe. Furthermore, how would any of the characters in “The Last Question” know what it would mean for sustainability to even be meaningful. In this essay I will argue that the importance of sustainability comes from its ability to put humanity on the right cosmic track. Meaning that despite the heavy weight of entropy the sustainability
Entropy still bothers Lupov but the world still moves on as a world that moves from one thermal resource to another. Bert does not even consider the generations that will come after him, and is only satisfied that resources will last his lifetime. Sustainability in an entropic world like Lupov and Bert’s would need to look like a world in which resources are renewable sources. A world in which unsustainable actions are recognized and tended to, and time is sacrificed by each generation to be more sustainable for the next. In an article written by Peter Mclean titled “The Need for Sustainability” he writes “Sustainability can be defined as responsible use of resources over an indefinite period of time; the Iroquois seem to well appreciate this notion as they make decisions on how they’ll affect their people seven generations hence” (Mclean, 267). The Iroquois method of thinking ahead is a realistic idea of what sustainability should look like in a universe such as the one is Asimov’s story. The Iroquois being known to live off the land were aware of their connection to nature, and alone saw themselves within it.
The population in his story was too vast for sustainability to be plausible, so vast that it would only encourage entropy to happen sooner. Sustainability will not only have to look like responsible use of resource but it will have to consider population decrease. The value of life cannot be determined but finite life can be interpreted as more meaningful due to its end. The fact that life has an end allows it to carry a sense of meaning through its span. In “The Last Question” future generations have started to become immortal. In a conversation between MQ17J and VJ-23X, MQ17J says “Now the population doubles every ten years” and VJ-23X responds saying “We can thank immortality for that” (Asimov, 295). Immortality creates higher population which would in turn mean a higher consumption of thermal resources. Thus, if immortality were never possible and the focus was on a sustainable population the population would survive longer due to a more sustainable circumstance. In an article written by Gretchen C. Dilly and Paul R. Ehlrich titled “Population, Sustainability, and Earth's Carrying Capacity” they write “The usual consequence for an animal population that exceeds its local biophysical carrying capacity is a population decline” (763). In reality then, lower population would mean a better chance for human life sustaining itself until the universe ends. The life of humanity has an