Multivac

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Multivac is the name of a fictional computer that science fiction writer Isaac Asimov used in his short stories for almost thirty years, from 1955 to 1983. According to his autobiography In Memory Yet Green , Asimov chose the name as an allusion to UNIVAC , one of the first mainframes. While he had initially planned to choose the name for "Multiple Vacuum Tubes" , his later story The Last Question explained the ending "-ac" as an abbreviation for "Automatic Computer".

Narrative element

As with most of the technologies Asimov described in his stories, Multivac's exact specifications also vary, allowing Asimov to ideally adapt it to a planned plot of his short stories.
For the most part, Multivac is a government-run computer. Variations in the short stories include where he is, how tall he is, how long he has been working (ie, "answering questions"), whether he is mechanically impersonal - or has developed human traits and needs, whether he is mute or speaking can, and whether it can only be operated by a few people, the “interpreters” or “grandmasters”, because of its complex command structures, or whether Multivac communicates directly with everyone.

Multivac short stories

Multivac at the heart of the action

  • Franchise (1955; German choice )
There are no more general presidential elections in the US. Multivac, who has access to all of the country's data, selects a single “representative person” from the American population, who then answers questions given by Multivac.
This year it is Norman Muller who is at first very unsure and wants to refuse, but then does his duty: he is wired up and answers all questions. Muller is surprised that he cannot communicate directly with the machine, but Multivac's code strips are translated by another machine and this is read out to Muller by senior computer John Paulson, who then enters Muller's answers back into the machine. When it is over after three hours, Muller is proud and feeling very patriotic: he ran the 2008 electronic democratic Muller election and will go down in history!
  • Question (1955; not published in German)
Two technicians who are busy with the maintenance of Multivac are talking about whether this computer can think in the human sense and whether it is intelligent. Multivac answers this question in its own way.
  • Jokester (1956; German joker )
Noel Meyerhof is a Grand Master and one of the few who knows how and what questions to ask Multivac. Meyerhof's only social ability is to be able to tell jokes and in such a way that the audience becomes absolutely hysterical with laughter.
Meyerhof's fascination with jokes is based on the fact that he wants to use Multivac - he feeds every joke he knows into the machine - to find out from whom or where all the jokes in circulation come from. Multivac can actually answer this question. But when Meyerhof asks the second question, what would happen if people had found out the answer to the first question, something happens that changes people's psychology forever: suddenly jokes are no longer perceived as funny.
In short episodes from several billion years of human history, the development from Multivac to the AC encompassing the entire cosmos is told. A recurring "last question" about the reversibility of entropy forms the leitmotif. The last stage of what was once Multivac finds a creative answer at the end of the story.
  • All the Troubles of the World (1958; German all worries of this world )
Multivac not only analyzes and solves economic, social and political problems, but also makes predictions about potential criminal acts. In order to achieve this, young people are initialized on their 18th birthday with a ceremony after which they (must) reveal their innermost thoughts, wishes and worries to Multivac openly and without deception.
Joseph Manners is preventively arrested for a murder, but no one can tell him the exact circumstances or which chain of arguments led to his arrest. In the course of the story it turns out that the arrest of Manners was a strategic move by Multivac to let the youngest son of Manners turn them off. Knowing the burden of worries, desires and sufferings of all people has led Multivac to only have one wish, to be able to give up its own existence.
  • The Machine that Won the War (1961; German The machine that won the war )
Three key figures in the successful war between mankind and the Denebians have a meeting where they want to understand how the mighty Multivac was able to achieve the decisive victory. Each of the three describes their own actions. John Henderson, chief programmer at Multivac, admits that he himself changed the feed-in data because the statements made by the population in this crisis situation could not be trusted. Max Jablonski reports that he changed Multivac's results because he feared that the machine would malfunction due to a lack of programmers and defective spare parts. Eventually, Lamar Swift, the Executive Director of the Solar Federation, admits that he had doubts about Multivac's reports and that his final and decisive act was decided by a coin toss .
  • Key Item (1968; German the key word , also the weak point )
Jack Weaver and Todd Nemerson, two technologists from the six teams that work at Multivac, discuss possible reasons why Multivac has not answered a question for three days. Could it be that Multivac has developed a human side and simply no longer wants to react to the command tone of the technician? For the twelfth time the same question is stored in Multivac and Weaver says: “So, Multivac. Work that through and give us the answer. ”Then he pauses and adds the key word:“ Please! ”And Multivac's valves and relays happily go back to work.
  • The Life and Times of Multivac (1975; German The life and striving of the Multivac )
Ronald Bakst, who is more than 100 years old, is one of the last 5 million people on earth to live under the ubiquitous Multivac. Bakst was present when Simon Hines destroyed one of the terminals in a protest against Multivac's omnipresence. Bakst did not prevent this and now has to answer questions from the 14 members of the Congress. During that hearing, Bakst admits that he was confronting Multivac with a practically insoluble problem: analyzing the human genome completely in order to change people so that they would accept Multivac's existence unconditionally and without aggression. Bakst's actual plan was to keep Multivac busy and distracted by this problem in its own interest so that Bakst can inactivate the "vulnerable" Multivac in the presence of the Congress members and cause it to burn through. The people have their freedom back, but the members of Congress remain speechless.
  • Point of View (1975; German A question of standpoint )
A technician is working on Multivac who has been showing malfunctions in answering questions lately. During lunch together, he tells his teenage son Roger about his work problems and where he thinks the problem is. But Roger sees it differently. Multivac's behavior reminds him of a defiant child who, after asking too many questions, deliberately gives wrong answers because “it sometimes needs time to play”.
  • True Love (1977; German true love )
Milton Davidson is looking for the ideal woman for herself. He writes a special program for Multivac, which he calls Joe , which has access to the entire population database on earth. Milton hopes that Joe / Multivac can find an ideal partner with his guidelines on how this woman should look. After Joe / Multivac has drawn up a list, Milton ensures that the candidates are assigned to him as employees for a short time. But their appearance alone turns out to be insufficient to be "ideal" for him. Milton therefore tells Joe / Multivac about himself, his likes and dislikes, de facto his whole personality. Joe / Multivac then develops an identity himself, takes on Milton's personality and has Milton arrested for unlawful behavior and misconduct. Now Joe / Multivac can "get the girl" himself.
  • It Is Coming (1979; German It is coming )
Bruce Durray, his wife Josephine and the giant computer Multivac will be confronted with an alien intelligence on its way to earth in 2030. At first not even Multivac can decode the strange signals, but when Josephine sends the object encyclopedic information without permission, the alien intelligence keeps replying “It's getting closer ... and if not, there is destruction” and later “It closes. Are they efficient or dangerous? Are you efficient If not, there will be destruction. "
Josephine acts against the will of her manager and the president. Since all the responsibility rests on her, she decides to give Multivac a voice, that of her husband Bruce, to discuss the problem with him directly. Since the alien intelligence apparently wants to land on earth, Multivac recommends not to prevent it from landing.
A small, cylindrical, irregular shape lands near the observatory and corresponds soundlessly to Multivac. Then it disappears into space just as quickly as it came to earth. Multivac explains: The earth passed the test by its very existence. The probe was said to be an inspector for the Galactic Brotherhood of Computers, which wanted to ensure that the advanced technology on earth was under the guidance and control of a computer. This is the only way to join the brotherhood. But Josephine kept Multivac's answer to her question as to how the Brotherhood sees humanity to himself. It reads: "pets".

Multivac only mentioned peripherally

The story contains only a very brief reference to Multivac as a literature data repository.
  • Someday (1956; German The Storyteller )
In a distant future, when computers, including Multivac, are caring for human well-being, children will no longer learn to read and write. Two eleven-year-old boys, Niccolo and Paul, are experimenting with The Bard , an older children's computer model programmed to tell fairy tales. They try to make the old-fashioned fairy tales more interesting by copying them from an electronic book on a computer, but are not satisfied with the result. They leave the fairy tale computer switched on, which tells a new story on its own about a small, abused computer, but which knows "that there are powerful computers out in the world that get wiser and more powerful until one day they - one Day - someday (someday) ... "
The story contains only a very brief reference to Multivac as a communication system.
  • My Son, the Physicist (1962; German My Son, the Physicist )
Communication engineer Gerard Cremona has to solve a communication problem with a Trans-Pluto expedition - and receives unexpected help from his mother. The story contains only a very brief reference to Multivac.
  • Potential (1983; German special talent )
Based on a certain DNA sequence, Multivac suspects that the teenager Roland Washman in Iowa may have telepathic abilities.

Explanations

  1. ↑ This short story was only printed twice, in 1955 and 1957. Asimov decided not to publish anything after a fellow writer, Robert Sherman Townes, pointed out that the ending of Question was very similar to that of his own short story Problem for Emmy .
  2. ↑ Isaac Asimov wrote this story in four sequel parts for Field Enterprises .