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List of fictional computers
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===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 (novel)|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 [[Syrup of ipecac|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) * '''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) * '''Bossy''', the "cybernetic brain" in the [[Hugo award]]-winning novel ''[[They'd Rather Be Right]]'' (a.k.a. ''The Forever Machine'') by [[Mark Clifton]] and [[Frank Riley (author)|Frank Riley]] (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) * '''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) * '''Microvac''', a future version of Multivac resembling a thick rod of metal the length of a spaceship appearing in ''[[The Last Question]]'', reputed to be one of Isaac Asimov's favorite stories. It appears in the book ''Nine Tomorrows'' (1959) * '''Galactic AC''', a future version of Microvac and Multivac in Isaac Asimov's ''[[The Last Question]]'' (1959) * '''Universal AC''', a future version of Galactic AC, Microvac, and Multivac in Isaac Asimov's ''[[The Last Question]]'' (1959) * '''Cosmic AC''', a very distant future version of Universal AC, Galactic AC, Multivac in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story ''[[The Last Question]]'' (The name is derived from "Automatic Computer"; see also AC's ancestor, [[Multivac]], and the contemporary [[UNIVAC]]) (1959) * '''AC''', the ultimate computer at the end of time in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story ''[[The Last Question]]'' (The name is derived from "Automatic Computer"; see also AC's ancestor, [[Multivac]], and the contemporary [[UNIVAC]]) (1959)
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