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Multivac

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Multivac is a fictional powerful computer appearing in over a dozen science fiction stories by American writer Isaac Asimov. Asimov's depiction of Multivac, a mainframe computer accessible by terminal, originally by specialists using machine code and later by any user, and used for directing the global economy and humanity's development, has been seen as the defining conceptualization of the genre of computers for the period (1950s–1960s). Multivac has been described as the direct ancestor of HAL 9000.

Like most of the technologies Asimov describes in his fiction, Multivac's exact specifications vary among appearances. In all cases, it is a government-run computer that answers questions posed using natural language,[1] and it is usually buried deep underground for security purposes. According to his autobiography In Memory Yet Green, Asimov coined the name in imitation of UNIVAC, an early mainframe computer. Asimov wrote that he had unwittingly assumed the name "Univac" denoted a computer with a single vacuum tube (it actually is an acronym for "Universal Automatic Computer"), and called his fictional giant computer "Multivac".[2] His later short story "The Last Question", however, expands the AC suffix to be "analog computer". However, Asimov never settles on a particular size for the computer (except for mentioning it is very large)[3]:86 or the supporting facilities around it. In the short story "Franchise" it is described as half a mile long (~800 meters) and three stories high, at least as far as the general public knows, while "All the Troubles of the World" states it fills all of Washington D.C.. There are frequent mentions of corridors and people inside Multivac. Unlike the artificial intelligences portrayed in his Robot series, Multivac's early interface is mechanized and impersonal, consisting of complex command consoles few humans can operate.[3] In "The Last Question", Multivac is shown as having a life of many thousands of years, growing ever more enormous with each section of the story, which can explain its different reported sizes as occurring further down the internal timeline of the overarching story.[4]:20

Multivac appeared in over a dozen science fiction stories by American writer Isaac Asimov, some of which have entered the popular imagination.[5][6][7] In the early Multivac story, "Franchise", Multivac chooses a single "most representative" person from the population of the United States, whom the computer then interrogates to determine the country's overall orientation. All elected offices are then filled by the candidates the computer calculates as acceptable to the populace. Asimov wrote this story as the logical culmination – and/or possibly the reductio ad absurdum – of UNIVAC's ability to forecast election results from small samples.[8][9]

In the most famous Multivac story, "The Last Question", the computer is the first in a line of supercomputers that spans ten trillion years, constantly perplexed by the problem of how to reverse the decay of the stars. In solving the problem it ascends to godhood.

In "All the Troubles of the World", the version of Multivac depicted reveals a very unexpected problem. Having had the weight of the whole of humanity's problems on its figurative shoulders for ages it has grown tired, and it sets plans in motion to cause its own death.[10]

Asimov's depiction of Multivac has been seen as the defining conceptualization of the genre of computers for the period, just as his development of robots defined a subsequent generation of thinking machines,[11] and Multivac has been described as the direct ancestor of HAL 9000.[10] Though the technology initially depended on bulky vacuum tubes, the concept – that all information could be contained on computer(s) and accessed from a domestic terminal – constitutes an early reference to the possibility of the Internet (as in "Anniversary").[12] Multivac has been considered within the context of public access information systems[1] and used in teaching computer science,[13] as well as with regard to the nature of an electoral democracy, as its influence over global democracy and the directed economy increased ("Franchise").[8][9][14] Asimov stories featuring Multivac have also been taught in literature classes.[15][16] In AI control terms, Multivac has been described as both an "oracle" and a "nanny".[17]

Asimov's stories featuring Multivac:

  1. ^ a b Halbert, Martin (1992). "Recursive Reviews" (PDF). The Public-Access Computer Systems Review. 3: 21–28.
  2. ^ Asimov, Isaac (1979). In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920–1954. Doubleday. p. 663. ISBN 9780385136792. OCLC 4491369. Univac is an acronym for 'Universal Automatic Computer' but I somehow got it into my head, without thinking, that it meant 'uni-vac', or 'one vacuum tube.' From then on, I wrote a series of stories featuring a giant computer I called 'Multivac.'
  3. ^ a b May, Andrew (2018). Rockets and Ray Guns : the Sci-Fi Science of the Cold War. ISBN 978-3-319-89830-8. OCLC 1038746131.
  4. ^ Flynn, Roger R., ed. (2002). Computer sciences. Macmillan Reference. ISBN 9780028655697. OCLC 671558424.
  5. ^ Pak, Chris (2011). "Computers in Science Fiction: Anxiety". In Ferro, David; Swedlin, Eric G. (eds.). Science fiction and computing : essays on interlinked domains. Jefferson: McFarland & Co. pp. 13–37. ISBN 978-0-7864-4565-3. OCLC 668182916.
  6. ^ Goble, Neil (1972). Asimov analyzed. Mirage. OCLC 254106640.
  7. ^ Seising, Rudolf (2013), "Science Visions, Science Fiction and the Roots of Computational Intelligence", Computational Intelligence in Intelligent Data Analysis, Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol. 445, Springer, pp. 123–150, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-32378-2_9, ISBN 978-3-642-32377-5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  8. ^ a b "Voters can be influenced by voter advice websites, but they do not follow the guidance blindly". Democratic Audit. May 8, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Data-driven democracy: Who decides?". aecpa.es (in European Spanish). Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  10. ^ a b D'Ammassa, Don (2013). Encyclopedia of science fiction (2nd ed.). Facts on File. ISBN 978-1-4381-4062-9. OCLC 882543352.
  11. ^ Warrick, Patricia S. (1980). "Science fiction images of computers and robots". The cybernetic imagination in science fiction. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-23100-X. OCLC 5831667.
  12. ^ "About this website". multivax.com. Archived from the original on August 7, 2004.
  13. ^ Sanderson, Donald (2004). "Using Science Fiction to Teach Computer Science". Proc. WWW@10. Terra Haute, IN, 9/30-10/1/2004.
  14. ^ Cowen, Tyler. "The Robots Are Here". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  15. ^ Study guide for isaac asimov's the machine that won the war. GALE STUDY GUIDES. 2017. ISBN 978-1-375-39231-0. OCLC 1048936923.
  16. ^ A Study Guide for Isaac Asimov's the Dead Past. Farmington Hills: Cengage Gale. 2018. ISBN 978-1-5358-4614-1. OCLC 1038496399.
  17. ^ Jaffe, Aaron. Spoiler alert : a critical guide. ISBN 1-4529-6292-8. OCLC 1126214981.