computer science

List of fictional computers

List of fictional computers is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of fictional computers rather than just read about it. In short: Computers have often been used as fictional objects in literature, films, and in other forms of media. Fictional computers may be depicted as considerably more sophisticated than anything yet devised in the real world.

Key takeaways

List of fictional computers belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of fictional computers to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of fictional computers from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Computers have often been used as fictional objects in literature, films, and in other forms of media. Fictional computers may be depicted as considerably more sophisticated than anything yet devised in the real world. Fictional computers may be referred to with a made-up manufacturer's brand name and model number or a nickname. This is a list of computers or fictional artificial intelligences that have appeared in notable works of fiction. The work may be about the computer, or the computer may be an important element of the story. Only static computers are included. Robots and other fictional computers that are described as existing in a mobile or humanlike form are discussed in a separate list of fictional robots and androids.

Literature

Before 1950 The Engine, a mechanical writer of books featured in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Eric A. Weiss asserts that it is an early fictional device that resembles artificial intelligence (1726) The Machine from E. M. Forster's short story "The Machine Stops" (1909) The Brain from Lionel Britton’s Brain: A Play of the Whole Earth (1930) The Government Machine from Miles J. Breuer's short story "Mechanocracy" (1932) The Brain from Laurence Manning's novel The Man Who Awoke (1933). The Machine City from John W. Campbell's short story "Twilight" (1934). The Mechanical Brain from Edgar Rice Burroughs's Swords of Mars (1934). The ship's navigation computer in "Misfit", a short story by Robert A. Heinlein (1939) The Games Machine, a vastly powerful computer that plays a major role in A. E. van Vogt's The World of Null-A (serialized in Astounding Science Fiction in 1945) The Brain, a supercomputer with a childish, human-like personality appearing in the short story "Escape!" by Isaac Asimov (1945) Joe, a "logic" (that is to say, a personal computer) in Murray Leinster's short story "A Logic Named Joe" (1946)

1950s The Machines, positronic supercomputers that manage the world in Isaac Asimov's short story "The Evitable Conflict" (1950) MARAX (MAchina RAtiocinatriX), the spaceship Kosmokrator's AI in Stanisław Lem's novel The Astronauts (1951) EPICAC, in Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano and other of his writings, EPICAC coordinates the United States economy. Named similarly to ENIAC, its name also resembles that of 'ipecac', a plant-based preparation that was used in over-the-counter poison-antidote syrups for its emetic (vomiting-inducing) properties. (1952) EMSIAC, in Bernard Wolfe's Limbo, the war computer in World War III. (1952) Vast anonymous computing machinery possessed by the Overlords, an alien race who administer Earth while the human population merges with the Overmind. Described in Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End. (1953) The Prime Radiant, Hari Seldon's desktop on Trantor in Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov (1953) Mark V, a computer used by monks at a Tibetan lamasery to encode all the possible names of God which resulted in the end of the universe in Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Nine Billion Names of God" (1953) Bossy in They'd Rather Be Right (1954), by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley, a supercomputer that offers to help human beings evolve. Karl, a computer (named for Carl von Clausewitz) built for analysis of military problems, in Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Pacifist" (1956) Mima, a thinking machine carrying the memories of all humanity, first appeared in Harry Martinson's "Sången om Doris och Mima" (1953), later expanded into Aniara (1956) Gold, a "supercalculator" formed by the networking of all the computing machines on 96 billion planets, which answers the question "Is there a God?" with "Yes, now there is a God" in Fredric Brown's single-page story "Answer" (1954) The City Fathers, emotionless computer bank educating and running the City of New York in James Blish's Cities in Flight series. Their highest ethic was survival of the city and they could overrule humans in exceptional circumstances. (1955, sequels through 1962) Multivac, a series of supercomputers featured in a number of stories by Isaac Asimov (1955–1983) Microvac, a future version of Multivac resembling a thick rod of metal the length of a spaceship appearing in "The Last Question" (1959) Galactic AC, a future version of Microvac and Multivac in Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question" Universal AC, a future version of Galactic AC in Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question" Cosmic AC, a distant future version in Isaac Asimov's short story "The Last Question" AC, the ultimate computer at the end of time in Isaac Asimov's short story "The Last Question" The Central Computer of the city of Diaspar in Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars (1956) Miniac, the "small" computer in the book Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine, written by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams (1958) Third Fleet-Army Force Brain, a "mythical" thinking computer in the short story "Graveyard of Dreams", written by H. Beam Piper (evolved into the computer "Merlin" in later versions of the story) (1958)

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of fictional computers

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of fictional computers claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of fictional computers before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of fictional computers ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of fictional computers

In research: List of fictional computers appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of fictional computers in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of fictional computers is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Computing-related lists, Fiction about artificial intelligence, Fictional computers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of fictional computers outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of fictional computers in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of fictional computers means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of fictional computers out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of fictional computers in simple terms?

Why does List of fictional computers matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of fictional computers?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of fictional computers.