# How Much Knowledge Can Humans and Intelligent Machines Ultimately Attain by Ian McEwan > “If the sum of all significant knowledge is finite, what proportion of it can humans, aided by intelligent machines, eventually attain?” > **— Ian McEwan**, *2018, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS THE LAST QUESTION?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [The Last Question](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/27430) — Edge published this exact, continuous passage in its 2018 Annual Question collection, *WHAT IS THE LAST QUESTION?*. The response page preserves the surrounding argument and qualifications. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2018 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2018 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the response cohort and this passage's promotion status. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/Modern Artificial Intelligence in the 1970s|AI in the 1970s]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism]] - **Article:** [[articles/Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks and the Allen Institute|Cortical Networks]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Information Theory|Information Theory]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Information Theory|Information Theory]] - [[wiki/Information Architecture|Information Architecture]] - [[wiki/Knowledge Representation|Knowledge Representation]] - [[wiki/Collective Intelligence|Collective Intelligence]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “If the sum of all significant knowledge is finite, what proportion of it can humans, aided by intelligent machines, eventually attain?” — Ian McEwan, 2018, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS THE LAST QUESTION?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-ian-mcewan-much-knowledge-humans-intelligent-machines-ultimately ```