Arthur C. Clarke once wrote a story where a monastery hires a company to install a computer to help them write down the nine billion names of God. They believe that the world will end once that job is done. The programmers become worried that the monks will riot when they reach their goal and the world doesn't end so they slip away and ride down the mountain. They know when the computer will finish its task. At that time they look up and "without any fuss at all the stars were going out."

I love that line.