Mérkars

Mérkars is a fictional celestial body featured in the speculative fiction novel "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov. In the story, Mérkars is described as a distant planet inhabited by a civilization that has achieved a state of immense technological advancement, bordering on the divine. The inhabitants of Mérkars are depicted as having transcended their physical forms and become beings of pure energy or consciousness.

The central theme involving Mérkars in "The Last Question" is the ultimate fate of the universe and the role of intelligence in its evolution. The Mérkarians, having conquered all physical limitations and understood the fundamental laws of existence, pose the ultimate question to the universe's supercomputer, Multivac: "How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?" This question reflects their yearning for a way to reverse the inevitable heat death of the cosmos.

Asimov uses Mérkars and its inhabitants to explore profound philosophical concepts about the limits of knowledge, the nature of existence, and the potential future of intelligent life. The advanced nature of Mérkars serves as a benchmark for the ultimate culmination of intelligence and its potential to grapple with the most fundamental questions of reality. The story's progression shows how the descendants of humanity, through countless millennia, eventually become beings similar to those of Mérkars, still seeking an answer to the same universal problem.