Editing Multivac

{{Short description|Fictional supercomputer by Isaac Asimov}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
'''Multivac''' is a fictional [[supercomputer]] 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]].

== Description ==
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,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Halbert|first=Martin|date=1992|title=Recursive Reviews|url=https://uh-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/10657/5872/Halbert_1992_ArtificialIntelligenceLibrariesReviewV3N2.pdf?sequence=1|journal=The Public-Access Computer Systems Review|volume=3|pages=21–28}}</ref> 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 I|UNIVAC]], an early [[mainframe computer]]. Asimov had assumed the name "Univac" denoted a computer with a single [[vacuum tube]] (it actually is an acronym for "Universal Automatic Computer"), and on the basis that a computer with many such tubes would be more powerful, called his fictional  computer "Multivac".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Asimov|first1=Isaac|title=In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920–1954|date=1979|publisher=Doubleday|isbn=9780385136792 |page=663|oclc=4491369|quote=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.'}}</ref>  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)<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=May |first=Andrew |title=Rockets and Ray Guns : the Sci-Fi Science of the Cold War |date=2018|isbn=978-3-319-89830-8|oclc=1038746131}}</ref><sup>:86</sup> or the supporting facilities around it. In the short story "[[Franchise (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 intelligence]]s portrayed in his [[Robot series (Asimov)|''Robot'' series]], Multivac's early interface is mechanized and impersonal, consisting of complex command consoles few humans can operate.<ref name=":2" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Computer sciences|date=2002|publisher=Macmillan Reference|isbn=9780028655697|editor=Flynn, Roger R. |oclc=671558424}}</ref><sup>:20</sup>

==Storylines==
Multivac appeared in over a dozen science fiction stories by American writer [[Isaac Asimov]], some of which have entered the popular imagination.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pak|first=Chris|title=Science fiction and computing : essays on interlinked domains|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Co|isbn=978-0-7864-4565-3|editor-last=Ferro|editor-first=David|location=Jefferson|pages=13–37|chapter=Computers in Science Fiction: Anxiety|oclc=668182916|editor-last2=Swedlin|editor-first2=Eric G.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Goble, Neil|title=Asimov analyzed|date=1972|publisher=Mirage|oclc=254106640}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Seising|first=Rudolf|title=Science Visions, Science Fiction and the Roots of Computational Intelligence|date=2013|work=Computational Intelligence in Intelligent Data Analysis|series=Studies in Computational Intelligence|volume=445|pages=123–150 |publisher=Springer  |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-32378-2_9|isbn=978-3-642-32377-5}}</ref> In the early Multivac story, "[[Franchise (short 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.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|date=2014-05-08|title=Voters can be influenced by voter advice websites, but they do not follow the guidance blindly|url=https://www.democraticaudit.com/2014/05/08/voters-can-be-influenced-by-voting-advice-websites-but-they-do-not-follow-the-advice-blindly/|access-date=2020-08-11|website=Democratic Audit|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=Data-driven democracy: Who decides?|url=https://aecpa.es/|access-date=2020-08-11|website=aecpa.es|language=es-ES}}</ref>

In possibly the most famous Multivac story, "[[The Last Question]]", two slightly drunken technicians ask Multivac if humanity can reverse the increase of [[entropy]]. Multivac fails, displaying the error message "INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER". The story continues through many iterations of computer technology, each more powerful and ethereal than the last. Each of these computers is asked the question, and each returns the same response until finally [[heat death of the universe|the universe dies]]. At that point Multivac's final successor, the Cosmic AC (which exists entirely in [[Hyperspace (science fiction)|hyperspace]]) has collected all the data it can, and so poses the question to itself. As the universe died, Cosmic AC drew all of humanity into hyperspace in order to preserve them until it could finally answer the Last Question. Ultimately, Cosmic AC ''did'' decipher the answer, announcing "Let there be light!" and essentially ascending to the state of the God of the Old Testament.<ref>{{Citation|last=Nahin|first=Paul J.|title=Computers as Gods|date=2014|work=Holy Sci-Fi!|series=Science and Fiction|pages=95–107 |publisher=Springer |doi=10.1007/978-1-4939-0618-5_5|isbn=978-1-4939-0617-8}}</ref>  Asimov claimed this to be the favorite of his stories.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_FAQ.html#literary5 |title= Frequently Asked Questions about Isaac Asimov |quote= Of his own work, what were Asimov's favorite and least favorite novels? What were his favorite and least favorite stories? |date= 11 July 2014 |first= Edward |last= Seiler |publisher= Asimov Online }}</ref>

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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|author=D'Ammassa, Don|title=Encyclopedia of science fiction|date=2013|publisher=Facts on File|isbn=978-1-4381-4062-9|edition=2nd |oclc=882543352}}</ref>

== Significance ==
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 [[robot]]s defined a subsequent generation of thinking machines,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Warrick|first=Patricia S.|title=The cybernetic imagination in science fiction|date=1980|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=0-262-23100-X |chapter=Science fiction images of computers and robots|oclc=5831667}}</ref> and Multivac has been described as the direct ancestor of [[HAL 9000]].<ref name=":0" /> Though the technology initially depended on bulky [[vacuum tube]]s, 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 (short story)|Anniversary]]").<ref>
[http://multivax.com/about.html "About MultiVAX"].
</ref> Multivac has been considered within the context of public access information systems<ref name=":1" /> and used in teaching computer science,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sanderson |first=Donald |date=2004 |title=Using Science Fiction to Teach Computer Science |work=Proc. WWW@10. Terra Haute, IN, 9/30-10/1/2004 |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/6361840/using-science-fiction-to-teach-computer-science-www10}}</ref> as well as with regard to the nature of an electoral democracy, as its influence over global democracy and the directed economy increased ("[[Franchise (short story)|Franchise]]").<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Cowen|first=Tyler|title=The Robots Are Here|url=https://politi.co/31qqQXn|access-date=2020-08-11|website=POLITICO Magazine }}</ref> Asimov stories featuring Multivac have also been taught in literature classes.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Study guide for isaac asimov's the machine that won the war |date=2017 |publisher=GALE STUDY GUIDES |isbn=978-1-375-39231-0 |oclc=1048936923}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=A Study Guide for Isaac Asimov's the Dead Past |date=2018 |publisher=Cengage Gale |isbn=978-1-5358-4614-1 |location=Farmington Hills|oclc=1038496399}}</ref> In [[AI control problem|AI control]] terms, Multivac has been described as both an "oracle" and a "nanny".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jaffe |first=Aaron |title=Spoiler alert : a critical guide |isbn=1-4529-6292-8 |oclc=1126214981}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
Asimov's stories featuring Multivac:
* "[[Question (short story)|Question]]" (1955; withdrawn<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.asimovreviews.net/Stories/Story425.html |title= Question |publisher= Asimov Reviews |first= John H |last= Jenkins}}</ref>)
* "[[Franchise (short story)|Franchise]]" (1955)
* "[[The Dead Past]]" (1956)
* "[[Someday (short story)|Someday]]" (1956)
* "[[The Last Question]]" (1956)
* "[[Jokester (short story)|Jokester]]" (1956)
* "[[All the Troubles of the World]]" (1958)
* "[[Anniversary (short story)|Anniversary]]" (1959)
* "[[The Machine That Won the War (short story)|The Machine that Won the War]]" (1961)
* "[[My Son, the Physicist]]" (1962)
* "Key Item" (1968)
* "[[The Life and Times of Multivac]]" (1975)
* "[[Point of View (short story)|Point of View]]" (1975)
* "[[True Love (short story)|True Love]]" (1977)
* "It Is Coming" (1979)
* "Potential" (1983)

==See also==
*[[AI control problem]]
*[[Government by algorithm]]
*[[Isaac Asimov short stories bibliography]] 
*[[List of fictional computers]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Robot series}}

[[Category:Fictional computers]]
[[Category:Isaac Asimov]]
[[Category:Multivac short stories by Isaac Asimov| ]]
[[Category:Fictional elements introduced in 1955]]