List of fictional computers

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Categories: Science fiction themes | Lists of fictional things | Fictional computers

This page is intended to be a list of computers in fiction and science fiction.

Computers have often been used as fictional objects in literature, movies and in other forms of media. Fictional computers tend to be considerably more sophisticated than anything yet devised in the real world. It is interesting to note that while science fiction writers have anticipated many of the advances in technology which have occurred (with varying degrees of accuracy), nearly no writer foresaw the computer as we know it today.

Contents 1 Literature 2 Television films and series 2.1 1960s 2.2 1970s 2.3 1980s 2.4 1990s 2.5 2000s 3 Radio 3.1 1970s 3.2 1980s 3.3 2000s 4 Film 4.1 1950s 4.2 1960s 4.3 1970s 4.4 1980s 4.5 1990s 4.6 2000s 5 Comics/Graphic Novels 6 Computer and video games 7 Board Games and Roleplaying Games 8 Unsorted works 9 Computers as Robots 10 See also 11 External links

Literature

• AIVAS, Artificial Intelligence Voice Address System, from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books. (1980s to present)
• AM from Harlan Ellison's short story I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (1967)
• Aleph, in Tom Maddox's novel Halo. The computer which not only operates a space station but also houses the personality of a human character whose body became malfunctional (1991)
• Arius from William T Quick's novels Dreams of Flesh and Sand, Dreams of Gods and Men, and Singularities. (1988 onwards)
• Art Fish AKA Dr Fish, later fused with a human to become Markt, from Pat Cadigan's novel Synners (1991)
• The Berserkers, a vast network of autonomous machines that are programmed to destroy all life, as found in the stories of Fred Saberhagen.
• Blaine the Mono, from Stephen King's The Dark Tower. A control system for the City of Lud and monorail service. Also Little Blaine and Patricia. (1982)
• The Central Computer of the city of Diaspar in Arthur C. Clarke's The City and the Stars (1956)
• The benevolent CC (Central Computer) in John Varley's Eight Worlds novels and short stories
• Con-pewter, a parody of other malevolent computers in Piers Anthony's Xanth series (1977 onwards).
• Colossus, a cybernetic computer formed by the merging of two large defense computers created by the US and Soviet Union, from the book of the same name by Dennis Feltham Jones.
• Cosmic AC, the ultimate computer at the end of time in Isaac Asimov's short story "The Last Question" (The name is derived from "analog computer"; see also AC's ancestor, Multivac). (1959)
• Cyclops and Millichrome, sentient computers built just before a series of disasters destroyed the American government and society in The Postman by David Brin.
• David and Jonathon from Arthur C. Clarke's The Hammer of God (1993)
• EPICAC in Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano, which coordinates the United States economy. It is also featured in other of his writings. (1952)
• Eagle, from Arthur C. Clarke's Rama series. (1989)
• The Engine, a mechanical computer featured in Gulliver's Travels (1726). This is considered to be the first fictional computer.
• Extro, in Alfred Bester's novel The Computer Connection
• First Universal Cybernetic-Kinetic Ultra-micro Programmer, from the Illuminatus trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson
• Frost, the protagonist computer in Roger Zelazny's story "For a Breath I Tarry"; also SolCom, DivCom, and Beta. (1966)
• GWB-666, the Great Western Beast of Robert Anton Wilson's Schrödinger's Cat trilogy. (1988)
• Ghostwheel, built by Merlin in Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. A computer with esoteric environmental requirements, designed to apply data-processing techniques to alternate realities called "Shadows". (1985)
• Googleplex Star Thinker in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which can calculate the trajectory of every single dust particle throughout a five-week Dangrabad Beta sand blizzard. (1979)
• Grand Napolean, a Charles Babbage style mechanical supercomputer from the alternate history novel The Difference Engine by William Ford Gibson and Bruce Sterling. (1990)
• Hactar, the computer that designed the cricket-ball-shaped doomsday bomb (that would destroy the universe) for the people of Krikkit, in Douglas Adams's Life, the Universe, and Everything. (1982)
• HARLIE, protagonist of When HARLIE was One by David Gerrold. (1972)
• Hex, from Terry Pratchett's Discworld. (1994)
• Jane, from Orson Scott Card's Ender Series 1986
• Joe, a "logic" (that is to say, a personal computer) in Murray Leinster's 1946 short story "A Logic Named Joe"
• LEVIN, Low Energy Variable Input Nanocomputer from William T Quick's novels Dreams of Gods and Men, and Singularities. (1989)
• Lingo, a sentient AI that evolves from a simple home computer and escapes to the Internet in the book "Lingo" by Jim Menick.
• Loki 7281, from Roger Zelazny's short story by the same name, in which his home computer wants to take over the world.
• The Machine, a computer built to specifications received from an alien intelligence beyond our galaxy in the novel A for Andromeda by Fred Hoyle. (1961)
• Lycoris, the failed Aura prototype from .hack//AI Buster
• The Machines, positronic supercomputers that manage the world in Isaac Asimov's short story "The Evitable Conflict". (1950)
• Maxine from the Roger Zelazny story "My Lady of the Diodes". (1970)
• The ship, hub and planetary Minds in Iain M. Banks' "Culture" novels and stories.
• The Müller-Fokker computer tapes in The Muller-Fokker Effect (1971)
• Multivac, a supercomputer which features in a number of stories by Isaac Asimov
• Mycroft Holmes (aka Mike, Adam Selene), in Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (Named after Mycroft Holmes, the brother of Sherlock Holmes)
• Neuromancer and Wintermute, from William Gibson's novel Neuromancer. (1984).
• The Ox in Frank Herbert's novel Destination: Void
• Prime Intellect, the computer controlling the universe in the Internet novel The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams.
• Proteus IV, the computer self-programmed to rape in the film/novel Demon Seed
• The Quark II in Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. (1987)
• Rei Toei, an artificial singer from William Gibson's novels Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties. (1996)
• SAL 9000, the counterpart of HAL 9000 in 2010: Odyssey Two (1982)
• Shalmaneser, from John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar, a supercomputer kept well below freezing temperature in liquid nitrogen. (1968)
• Solace, the distributed intelligence in some of the stories of Spider Robinson.
• Spartacus, an AI deliberately designed to test the possibility of provoking hostile behavior towards humans, from James P. Hogan's book The Two Faces of Tomorrow (1979).
• TECT, from George Alec Effinger, various books. Notice that there are several computers named TECT in his novels, even though they are unrelated stories.
• Thing, a very small box shaped computer owned by the Nomes, from Terry Pratchett's The Bromeliad series. (1990)
• Turing Hopper, the artificial intelligence personality (AIP) turned cybersleuth in You've Got Murder and subsequent books of the mystery series by Donna Andrews.
• WESCAC (West Campus Analog Computer) from John Barth's Giles Goat-Boy. (1966)
• ZORAC, the shipboard computer aboard the ancient spacecraft in The Gentle Giants of Ganymede and the related series by James P. Hogan. Also in the same series is VISAR (the network that manages the daily affairs of the Giants) as well as JEVEX, the main computer performing the same function for the offshoot human colony.
• The unnamed computer from Fredric Brown's short story "Answer", which answers the question "Is there a God?" with "Yes, now there is a God."

Television films and series

1960s

• WOTAN (Will Operating Throughout ANalogue) from Doctor Who ("The War Machines"). (1966)
• The Library Computer, from Star Trek, the otherwise unnamed computer of the Starship Enterprise. Voiced by Majel Barrett. (1967)
• The General, from The Prisoner. (1967)
• Landru, from the Star Trek original series episode "The Return of the Archons". (1967)
• Vaal, from the Star Trek original series episode "The Apple". (1967)
• M5, an experimental computer featured in the Star Trek original series episode "The Ultimate Computer". (1968)
• The Oracle, from the Star Trek original series episode "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky". (1968)

1970s

• BOSS (Bimorphic Organisational Systems Supervisor), from Doctor Who ("The Green Death"). (1973)
• Tim, from The Tomorrow People, is a computer able to telepathically converse with those humans who have developed psionic abilities, and assist with precise teleporting over long distances. (1973)
• The MATRIX, database of all Timelord knowledge, Doctor Who (not to be confused with The Matrix). (1976)
• Alex7000, from the two-parter episode Doomsday is Tomorrow of the TV show The Bionic Woman. It was programmed to set off a nuclear holocaust if anyone tested any more nukes. Clearly meant in homage to Stanley Kubrick films 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dr Strangelove. (1977)
• Xoanon from Doctor Who ("The Face of Evil"). (1977)
• Orac in Blake's 7. (1978)
• The Oracle, from Doctor Who ('Underworld'). (1978)
• Vanessa 38-24-36 from the sitcom Quark. (1978)
• Zen, the somewhat aloof computer of the Liberator in Blake's 7. (1978)
• Mentalis from Doctor Who ("The Armageddon Factor"). (1979)

1980s

• Gambit, game playing computer from Blake's 7 ('Games'). (1981)
• Shyrka, the onboard computer of Ulysses' ship in the French animated series "Ulysses 31". (1981)
• Slave, a somewhat subservient computer on the ship Scorpio in Blake's 7. (1981)
• KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand) the car with A.I. in the television series Knight Rider. (1982)
• Teletraan I, the Autobots' computer in Transformers, 'revives' The Transformers after crashing on the planet Earth. (1984)
• Vector Sigma, the supercomputer in Transformers, responsible for creating the Transformers race. (1984)
• SID (Space Investigation Detector), the computer onboard the Voyager in the children's comedy series Galloping Galaxies. (1985)
• Max Headroom, the cyber punk TV presenter from The Max Talking Headroom Show. (1985)
• Box, a small, box shaped computer from the British television show Star Cops. (1987)
• LCARS fictional computer architecture of the Starship Enterprise-D and E, and other 24th century starfleet ships, in Star Trek. (1987)
• Magic Voice, the Satellite of Love's onboard computer on Mystery Science Theater 3000. (1988)
• Holly, and Queeg 500, the on-board computer and back-up computer (respectively) for the space ship Red Dwarf in the BBC television series of the same name. (1988)
• The Ultima Machine, a WWII code-breaking "computing machine" used to translate Viking inscriptions, from Doctor Who ('The Curse of Fenric'). (1989)
• Ziggy, hybrid computer from Quantum Leap (1989)

1990s

• Nicole, Princess Sally's computer in the Sonic the Hedgehog Saturday morning TV series and US comic series. (1993)
• The Magi, a trinity of computers individually named Melchior, Balthasar and Casper, from Neon Genesis Evangelion. (1995)
• Unnamed AI from the season 5 X-Files episode ('Kill Switch'). (1998)
• Starship 31, the sapient spaceborne battleship, from the episode 'The Human Operators' in The Outer Limits. (1999)

2000s

• Comp-U-Comp, a super computer from an episode of the Dilbert TV show. In the episode, Dilbert must face off against Comp-U-Comp when a clerical error results in his not getting the computer he ordered. (2000)
• Aura from .hack//sign, the Ultimate AI that Morganna, another AI, tries to keep in a state of eternal slumber. Morganna is served by Maha and the Guardians, AI monsters. (2002)
• Vox from the TV show The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2002)
• OoGhiJ MIQtxxXA - (supposedly Klingon for "superior galactic intelligence") from the "Super Computer" episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (2003)
• XANA, from Code Lyoko (2004)

Radio

1970s

• Deep Thought, from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, (1978)
• Earth, the greatest computer of all time in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, bought and run by mice to find the Question to Life, the Universe, and Everything. (1978)
• Eddie, the shipboard computer of the starship Heart of Gold, from Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (1978)

1980s

• Alarm Clock, an artificially intelligent alarm clock from Nineteen Ninety-Four by William Osborne and Richard Turner. Other domestic appliances thus imbued also include Refrigerator and Television. (1985)
• ANGEL 1 and ANGEL 2, Ancillary Guardians of Environment and Life, shipboard 'Freewill' computers from James Follett's Earthsearch series. Also Solaria D, Custodian, Sentinal, and Earthvoice. (1980 - 1982)
• Executive and Dreamer, paired AI's running on The Mainframe; Dreamer's purpose was to come up with product and policy ideas, and Executive's function was to implement them, from Nineteen Ninety-Four by William Osborne and Richard Turner. (1985)
• Hab a parody of HAL 9000 and precursor to Holly, appearing in the Son of Cliché radio series written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor (1983 - 1984)
• The Mainframe, an overarching computer system to support the super-department of The Environment, in the BBC comedy satire Nineteen Ninety-Four by William Osborne and Richard Turner. (1985)

2000s

• Alpha, from Mike Walker's BBC radio play of the same name. (2001)
• Gemini, the AI of K.E.N.T from Nebulous. (2005)

Film

1950s

• The Interocitor communication device in the film This Island Earth (1955)

1960s

• Alpha 60, in Jean-Luc Godard's film Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)
• HAL 9000 (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is a fictional mission computer in the films 2001: A Space Odyssey and sequel 2010: Odyssey Two that fatally malfunctions when conta-programed with the secret purpose of the mission. (1968)
• Colossus, from Colossus: The Forbin Project (1969)

1970s

• Mother, the ship-board computer in the SF horror movie Alien (1979)

1980s

• SCMODS (State, County, Municipal Offender Data System), police patrol car computer in the movie The Blues Brothers (1980)
• Master Control Program from Tron. (1982)
• WOPR (War Operations Plan and Response) from the movie WarGames (1983)
• Joshua, a subprogram that runs on the WOPR (q.v.) in WarGames (1983)
• Skynet, the malevolent fictional world-AI of The Terminator and its sequels. (1984)

1990s

• Father, the station computer in the movie Alien: Resurrection. (1997)
• The Matrix, virtual reality simulator for pacification of humans, The Matrix series (1999)

2000s

• Red Queen, the AI from the movie Resident Evil (2002)
• Vox, a holographic computer in the 2002 movie version of The Time Machine. (2002)
• I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. - computer for Team America: World Police (2004)
• V.I.K.I., (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence) from I, Robot (2004)
• E.D.I (Extreme Deep Invader) is the flight computer for an unmanned fighter plane in Stealth (2005)

Comics/Graphic Novels

• AIMA (Artificially Intelligent Mainframe Interface) from Dark Minds. (1997)
• Aura, the Ultimate AI that governs The World from .hack//Legend of Twilight. The story revolves around Zefie, Aura's daughter, and Lycoris makes a cameo.
• Banana Jr. 6000, from the comic strip Bloom County by Berke Breathed.
• Batcomputer, the computer system used by Batman and housed in the Batcave.
• iFruit, from the FoxTrot comic strip.
• Max, from The Thirteenth Floor.
• Mother Box, from Jack Kirby's Fourth World comics.
• Praetorius from the X-Files comic book series, issue 13 "One Player Only". (1996)
• Toy, from Chris Claremont's Aliens vs. Predator: The Deadliest of the Species. (1995)

Computer and video games

• 0D-10, Artificial intelligent computer in the sci-fi chapter from the game Live A Live. Secretly plotted to kill humans onboard the spaceship of the same name in order to 'restore the harmony'. Its name derives from 'odio', a spanish word for 'hate'. An obvious reference to Hal 9000.
• ADA, from the video game "Zone of the Enders".
• CABAL (Computer Assisted Bio-engineered Artificial Life-form) the computer of Nod in Westwood's Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Command and Conquer: Renegade, and, by implication, Command and Conquer: Tiberian Dawn.
• Central consciousness, massive governing body from the computer game Total Annihilation.
• Cortana, the shipboard A.I. of the U.N.S.C. Pillar of Autumn in the Halo video games
• Dr. Carroll from the Nintendo 64 game Perfect Dark.
• Durandal, one of three A.I.s onboard the U.E.S.C. Marathon
• EVA, the Electronic Video Agent AI, console interface, and more benign equivalent of the Brotherhood of Nod CABAL in Command & Conquer (see above).
• Leela and Durandal (Marathon 2 and Marathon: Infinity), two of three A.I.s onboard the U.E.S.C. Marathon
• PRISM, the "world's first sentient machine" which you play as the protagonist of the game A Mind Forever Voyaging by Steve Meretzky published by Infocom.
• SHODAN, the enemy of the player's character in the System Shock computer game and its sequel System Shock 2.
• Traxus IV, A.I. that went rampant on Mars, Marathon (computer game)
• Tycho, one of three A.I.s onboard the U.E.S.C. Marathon
• XERXES The ship computer system which is under the control of The Many in the computer game System Shock 2.
• Aura and Morganna from the .hack series, the Phases that serve Morganna, and the Net Slum AI's.

Board Games and Roleplaying Games

• The Computer from West End Games Paranoia role playing game.
• The Autochthon, the extradimensional AI which secretly control Iteration X, in White Wolf's Mage: The Acension.

Unsorted works

• The CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER, narator from Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage
• Compy 386, Strong Bad's second computer in Homestar Runner
• FATE, the computer that determines how events span out from Chrono Cross.
• Icarus, Daedalus and Morpheus of Deus Ex
• Kilg%re, an alien AI that can exist in most electrical circuitry, The Flash
• Lappy 486, Strong Bad's third computer, a laptop, in Homestar Runner
• Mother Brain from Metroid.
• Mother Brain from Chrono Trigger, a supercomputer from the 2300 AD time period that is controlling robotkind and exterminating humans.
• Sol - 9000 Xenogears
• System Deus from Xenogears
• Tandy 400, Strong Bad's first computer with which he answered e-mails in Homestar Runner. Tandy is a real company, but never produced a 400 model.

Computers as Robots

See the List of fictional robots and androids for all fictional computers which are described as existing in a mobile or humanlike form.

See also

• AI in fiction
• Archive of fictional things
• List of fictional electronic games
• List of movie clichés

External links

• http://newark.rutgers.edu/~hbf/compulit.htm
• http://www.computer.org/intelligent/homepage/x2his.htm
• http://technicity.net/articles/writing_the_future.htm
• http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade/mnbkfc.htm – A large set of reviews of fiction that bears on computers in some aspect
• List of computer names in science fiction – Also includes androids, robots and sundry aliens
• Robot Hall of Fame at CMU – With fictional inductees HAL-9000 and R2-D2