This passage occurred in a short story by Isaac Asimov:
"... You're weak on logic, that's the trouble with you. You're like the guy in the story who was caught in a sudden shower and who ran to a grove of trees and got under one. He wasn't worried, you see, because he figured when one tree got wet through, he would just get under another one." — "The Last Question", Science Fiction Quarterly (Nov. 1956).
Does anyone know the source of the folktale to which Asimov was alluding? Or did he just make it up himself?
The content of the passage resembles a Buddhist or Sufi parable. Unfortunately, I cannot name the source.
I took a quick look at some tales in the ATU catalogue, it is apparently not there. Perhaps invented, which is rare, since it is a recognisable example of a specific kind of assumption (abundance assumed). The answer is probably somewhere in the ATU catalogue (Uther etc).
Karl Pfeifer Its part of a rather long discussion in May 2016 about two men who use and maintain Multivac. The conversation evolved into understanding energy and entropy. Reading the link below reminded me of the passage. Though it also sounds like an idea expressed in an ancient saying I assume it was his idea. You can read the context (approx 1/3 down) in this link:
https://users.ece.cmu.edu/~gamvrosi/thelastq.html
Lee Clawson
You've merely given me a link to the short story I mentioned in my question and from which I copied the quotation. I guess that might be useful to other readers of this thread but it doesn't help me.
PS. The fictional discussion in the story takes place on May 21, 2061, not 2016.
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