Multivac
Encyclopedia
Multivac is the name of a fictional supercomputer
in many stories by Isaac Asimov
. According to his autobiography In Memory Yet Green
, Asimov coined the name in imitation of UNIVAC
, an early mainframe computer. While he initially intended the name to stand for "Multiple vacuum tube
s", his later short story "The Last Question
" expands the AC suffix to be "analog computer
".
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, usually buried deep underground for security purposes. However, Asimov never settles on a particular size for the computer (except for mentioning it is very large) or the supporting facilities around it. Unlike the artificial intelligence
s portrayed in his Robot Series
, Multivac's interface is mechanized and impersonal, consisting of complex command consoles few humans can operate.
Though the technology 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
. (see "Anniversary
" for how it was used).
, whom the computer then interrogates to determine the country's overall orientation. All elected offices are then filled by the candidates the computer deems 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.
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 the universe dies
. At that point Multivac (now existing entirely in hyperspace
) has collected all the data it can, since there can be no more to collect; Multivac then contemplates in the darkness for a time regarding how best to begin the reversal. Eventually he figures it out, and with no humans left the by now omniscient computer simply ends the story by proclaiming "Let there be light!".
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 sets plans in motion to cause its own death.
in his 1994 Omega Point Theory, and Ray Kurzweil in his 2005 book The Singularity is Near
, have suggested that the human race
will soon (by the mid 21st century) evolve into transhuman
immortal
humanoid robots which will work to eventually turn the entire universe
into a gigantic supercomputer
. They both suggest that this supercomputer will be able to reverse entropy so that the immortal robots can live inside the supercomputer in virtual reality
forever.
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
in many stories by Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
. According to his autobiography In Memory Yet Green
In Memory Yet Green
In Memory Yet Green, In Memory Yet Green: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1954, is the first volume of Isaac Asimov's two-volume autobiography. It was published in 1979. This first volume covers the years 1920 to 1954, which lead up to the point just prior to Asimov becoming a full time...
, Asimov coined the name in imitation of UNIVAC
UNIVAC I
The UNIVAC I was the first commercial computer produced in the United States. It was designed principally by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the inventors of the ENIAC...
, an early mainframe computer. While he initially intended the name to stand for "Multiple vacuum tube
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
s", his later short story "The Last Question
The Last Question
"The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the November 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and was reprinted in the collections Nine Tomorrows , The Best of Isaac Asimov , Robot Dreams , the retrospective Opus 100 , and in Isaac Asimov: The...
" expands the AC suffix to be "analog computer
Analog computer
An analog computer is a form of computer that uses the continuously-changeable aspects of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved...
".
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, usually buried deep underground for security purposes. However, Asimov never settles on a particular size for the computer (except for mentioning it is very large) or the supporting facilities around it. Unlike the artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
s portrayed in his Robot Series
Isaac Asimov's Robot Series
Isaac Asimov's Robot Series is a series of short stories and novels by Isaac Asimov featuring positronic robots.- Short stories :Most of Asimov's robot short stories are set in the first age of positronic robotics and space exploration...
, Multivac's interface is mechanized and impersonal, consisting of complex command consoles few humans can operate.
Though the technology 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
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. (see "Anniversary
Anniversary (Asimov)
Anniversary is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the March 1959 issue of Amazing Stories and subsequently appeared in the collections Asimov's Mysteries and The Best of Isaac Asimov...
" for how it was used).
Storylines
In the early Multivac story, "Franchise", Multivac chooses a single "most representative" person from the population of the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, whom the computer then interrogates to determine the country's overall orientation. All elected offices are then filled by the candidates the computer deems acceptable to the populace. Asimov wrote this story as the logical culmination— and/or possibly the reductio ad absurdum
Reductio ad absurdum
In logic, proof by contradiction is a form of proof that establishes the truth or validity of a proposition by showing that the proposition's being false would imply a contradiction...
—of UNIVAC's ability to forecast election results from small samples.
In possibly the most famous Multivac story, "The Last Question
The Last Question
"The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the November 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and was reprinted in the collections Nine Tomorrows , The Best of Isaac Asimov , Robot Dreams , the retrospective Opus 100 , and in Isaac Asimov: The...
", two slightly drunken technicians ask Multivac if humanity can reverse the increase of entropy
Entropy
Entropy is a thermodynamic property that can be used to determine the energy available for useful work in a thermodynamic process, such as in energy conversion devices, engines, or machines. Such devices can only be driven by convertible energy, and have a theoretical maximum efficiency when...
. 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 the universe dies
Heat death of the universe
The heat death of the universe is a suggested ultimate fate of the universe, in which the universe has diminished to a state of no thermodynamic free energy and therefore can no longer sustain motion or life. Heat death does not imply any particular absolute temperature; it only requires that...
. At that point Multivac (now existing entirely in hyperspace
Hyperspace (science fiction)
Hyperspace is a plot device sometimes used in science fiction. It is typically described as an alternative region of space co-existing with our own universe which may be entered using an energy field or other device...
) has collected all the data it can, since there can be no more to collect; Multivac then contemplates in the darkness for a time regarding how best to begin the reversal. Eventually he figures it out, and with no humans left the by now omniscient computer simply ends the story by proclaiming "Let there be light!".
In "All the Troubles of the World
All the Troubles of the World
"All the Troubles of the World" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the April 1958 issue of Super-Science Fiction, and was reprinted in the 1959 collection Nine Tomorrows...
", 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 sets plans in motion to cause its own death.
Influence on modern thought
Both Frank J. TiplerFrank J. Tipler
Frank Jennings Tipler is a mathematical physicist and cosmologist, holding a joint appointment in the Departments of Mathematics and Physics at Tulane University. Tipler has authored books and papers on the Omega Point, which he claims is a mechanism for the resurrection of the dead. It has been...
in his 1994 Omega Point Theory, and Ray Kurzweil in his 2005 book The Singularity is Near
The Singularity Is Near
The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology is a 2005 update of Raymond Kurzweil's 1999 book, The Age of Spiritual Machines and his 1990 book The Age of Intelligent Machines. In it, as in the two previous versions, Kurzweil attempts to give a glimpse of what awaits us in the near future...
, have suggested that the human race
Human Race
Human Race refers to the Human species.Human race may also refer to:*The Human Race, 79th episode of YuYu Hakusho* Human Race Theatre Company of Dayton Ohio* Human Race Machine, a computer graphics device...
will soon (by the mid 21st century) evolve into transhuman
Transhumanism
Transhumanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human...
immortal
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
humanoid robots which will work to eventually turn the entire universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
into a gigantic supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
. They both suggest that this supercomputer will be able to reverse entropy so that the immortal robots can live inside the supercomputer in virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
forever.
Multivac bibliography
Asimov's stories featuring Multivac:- "Question" (1955; withdrawn)
- "Franchise" (1955)
- "The Dead PastThe Dead Past"The Dead Past" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, first published in the April 1956 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. It was later collected in Earth Is Room Enough and The Best of Isaac Asimov , and adapted into an episode of the science-fiction television series Out of the...
" (1956) - "SomedaySomeday (short story)Someday is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the August 1956 issue of Infinity Science Fiction and reprinted in the collections Earth Is Room Enough , The Complete Robot , Robot Visions , and The Complete Stories, Volume 1 .-Plot summary:The story is set in a...
" (1956) - "The Last QuestionThe Last Question"The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the November 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and was reprinted in the collections Nine Tomorrows , The Best of Isaac Asimov , Robot Dreams , the retrospective Opus 100 , and in Isaac Asimov: The...
" (1956) - "Jokester" (1956)
- "All the Troubles of the WorldAll the Troubles of the World"All the Troubles of the World" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the April 1958 issue of Super-Science Fiction, and was reprinted in the 1959 collection Nine Tomorrows...
" (1958) - "Anniversary" (1959)
- "The Machine that Won the WarThe Machine that Won the WarThe Machine that Won the War is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the October 1961 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and was reprinted in the collections Nightfall and Other Stories and Robot Dreams...
" (1961) - "My Son, the PhysicistMy Son, the Physicist"My Son, the Physicist" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was commissioned by Hoffman Electronics Corporation and appeared in February 1962 in Scientific American...
" (1962) - "Key ItemKey ItemKey Item is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. One of a connected series of stories concerning the fictional supercomputer Multivac, it was originally to be printed in a periodical Computers and Automation in 1959, but not used...
" (1968) - "The Life and Times of MultivacThe Life and Times of MultivacThe Life and Times of Multivac is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the 5 January 1975 issue of The New York Times Magazine, and was reprinted in the collections The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories and The Best of Creative Computing in 1976...
" (1975) - "Point of View" (1975)
- "Think!Think! (Asimov short story)Think! is a science-fiction short story by Isaac Asimov that first appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in its very first issue...
" (1977) - "True Love" (1977)
- "It Is Coming" (1979)
- "Potential" (1983)
- "HallucinationHallucination (short story)Hallucination is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, and has been included in Gold. Hallucination was published and copyrighted in 1995, three years after Asimov died in 1992...
" (published posthumously in 1995) features the Central Computer, the apparent successor of Mulitvac