Computers have often been used as fictional objects in literature, films, and in other forms of media. Fictional computers may be depicted as considerably more sophisticated than anything yet devised in the real world. Fictional computers may be referred to with a made-up manufacturer's brand name and model number or a nickname.
This is a list of computers or fictional artificial intelligences that have appeared in notable works of fiction. The work may be about the computer, or the computer may be an important element of the story. Only static computers are included. Robots and other fictional computers that are described as existing in a mobile or humanlike form are discussed in a separate list of fictional robots and androids.
Literature Before 1950 The Engine, a mechanical writer of books featured in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Eric A. Weiss asserts that it is an early fictional device that resembles artificial intelligence (1726) The Machine from E. M. Forster's short story "The Machine Stops" (1909) The Brain from Lionel Britton’s Brain: A Play of the Whole Earth (1930) The Government Machine from Miles J. Breuer's short story "Mechanocracy" (1932) The Brain from Laurence Manning's novel The Man Who Awoke (1933). The Machine City from John W. Campbell's short story "Twilight" (1934). The Mechanical Brain from Edgar Rice Burroughs's Swords of Mars (1934). The ship's navigation computer in "Misfit", a short story by Robert A. Heinlein (1939) The Games Machine, a vastly powerful computer that plays a major role in A. E. van Vogt's The World of Null-A (serialized in Astounding Science Fiction in 1945) The Brain, a supercomputer with a childish, human-like personality appearing in the short story "Escape!" by Isaac Asimov (1945) Joe, a "logic" (that is to say, a personal computer) in Murray Leinster's short story "A Logic Named Joe" (1946)
1950s The Machines, positronic supercomputers that manage the world in Isaac Asimov's short story "The Evitable Conflict" (1950) MARAX (MAchina RAtiocinatriX), the spaceship Kosmokrators AI in Stanisław Lem's novel The Astronauts (1951) EPICAC, in Kurt Vonnegut's 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 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) Bossy in They'd Rather Be Right (1954), by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley, a supercomputer that offers to help human beings evolve. 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) 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) Microvac, a future version of Multivac resembling a thick rod of metal the length of a spaceship appearing in "The Last Question" (1959) Galactic AC, a future version of Microvac and Multivac in Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question" Universal AC, a future version of Galactic AC in Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question" Cosmic AC, a distant future version in Isaac Asimov's short story "The Last Question" AC, the ultimate computer at the end of time in Isaac Asimov's short story "The Last Question" 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)
1960s Vulcan 2 and Vulcan 3, sentient supercomputers in Philip K. Dick's novel Vulcan's Hammer (1960) Great Coordinator or Robot-Regent, a partially to fully sentient extraterrestrial supercomputer, built to control and drive the scientifically and technologically advanced Great Arconide Empire as the Arconides have become decadent and unable to govern themselves. From the science fiction series Perry Rhodan (1961) Merlin from the H. Beam Piper novel The Cosmic Computer (originally Junkyard Planet) (1963) Simulacron-3, the third generation of a virtual reality system originally depicted in the science fiction novel Simulacron-3 (a.k.a. "Counterfeit World") by Daniel F. Galouye (1964) and later in film adaptations World on a Wire (1973) and The Thirteenth Floor (1999) GENiE (GEneralized Nonlinear Extrapolator), from the Keith Laumer novel The Great Time Machine Hoax (1964) Muddlehead, the sapient computer that runs the trade ship Muddlin' Through in Poul Anderson's stories The Trouble Twisters (1965), Satan's World (1969), "Day of Burning" (1967), "Lodestar" (1973), and Mirkheim (1977) Colossus and Guardian: Colossus, a military supercomputer designed to control the nuclear arsenal of the United States of North America, joins with its Soviet counterpart, Guardian, and announces that to prevent war the two computers will rule the human race. From the novels Colossus (1966), The Fall of Colossus (1974) and Colossus and the Crab (1977) by Dennis Feltham Jones. The first novel was filmed as Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) Frost, the protagonist computer in Roger Zelazny's story "For a Breath I Tarry"; also SolCom, DivCom, and Beta (1966) Mike (a.k.a. Mycroft Holmes, Michelle, Adam Selene), in Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (named after Mycroft Holmes, the brother of Sherlock Holmes) (1966) The Ox in Frank Herbert's novel Destination: Void (1966) Supreme, a computer filling the artificial world Primores in Lloyd Biggle, Jr.'s Watchers of the Dark (1966) WESCAC (WESt Campus Analog Computer), from John Barth's Giles Goat-Boy (1966) The Brain, the titular logistics computer of Len Deighton's novel Billion-Dollar Brain (1966) Moxon, a series of supercomputers that manage "the efficient society" in Tor Åge Bringsværd's short story "Codemus" (1967) Little Brother, a portable computer terminal similar in many ways to a modern smartphone, also from Bringsværd's "Codemus" (1967) AM (Allied Mastercomputer), from Harlan Ellison's short story "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" (1967) The Berserkers, autonomous machines that are programmed to destroy all life, as found in the stories of Fred Saberhagen (1967–2007) The Soft Weapon, a sophisticated hand-held battle computer once used by a spy, in Larry Niven's short story "The Soft Weapon" (1967) HAL 9000, the sentient computer on board the spaceship Discovery One, in Arthur C. Clarke's novel 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Shalmaneser, from John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar, a small (and possibly semi-sentient) supercomputer cooled in liquid helium (1968) Tänkande August (Swedish for "Thinking August"), a.k.a. "The Boss", a powerful computer for solving crime in the Agaton Sax books by Swedish author Nils-Olof Franzén The Thinker, a non-sentient supercomputer which has absolute control over all aspects human life, including a pre-ordained death age of 21. From the novel Logan's Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson (1967) Project 79, from the novel The God Machine by Martin Caidin. Set in the near future, the novel tells the story of Steve Rand, one of the brains behind Project 79, a top-secret US Government project dedicated to creating artificial intelligence (1968) ARDNEH (Automatic Restoration Director – National Executive Headquarters), from the Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East series (1968 onward) Fess, an antique FCC-series computer that can be plugged into various bodies, in Christopher Stasheff's The Warlock in Spite of Himself (1969)
1970s UniComp, the central computer governing all life on Earth in This Perfect Day by Ira Levin (1970) T.E.N.C.H. 889B, supercomputer aboard the Persus 9 in A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick (1970) Maxine, from the Roger Zelazny story "My Lady of the Diodes" (1970) The Müller-Fokker computer tapes, in The Muller-Fokker Effect by John Sladek (1970) HARLIE (Human Aanalog Replication, Lethetic Intelligence Engine), protagonist of When HARLIE Was One by David Gerrold (1972). Also in the later When Harlie Was One, Release 2.0 (1988) TECT, from George Alec Effinger's various books. There are several computers named TECT in his novels, even though they are unrelated stories (1972-2002) Dora, starship computer in Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein (1973) Minerva, executive computer in Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein (1973) Pallas Athena, Tertius planetary computer in Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein (1973) Proteus, the highly intelligent computer in the novel Demon Seed by Dean Koontz (1973) Extro, in Alfred Bester's novel The Computer Connection (1975) FUCKUP (First Universal Cybernetic Kynetic Ultramicro-Programmer), from The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson (1975) Murray (Multi-Unit Reactive Reasoning and Analysis Yoke), from The Starcrossed by Ben Bova (1975) UNITRACK, from The Manitou by Graham Masterton (1976) Peerssa, a shipboard computer imprinted with the personality of a man of the same name, from A World Out of Time by Larry Niven (1976) P-1, a rogue AI which struggles to survive from The Adolescence of P-1 by Thomas J. Ryan (1977) Central Computer, the benevolent computer in John Varley's Eight Worlds novels and short stories (1977 to 1998) Domino, the portable communicator – and associated underground mega-computer – used by Laurent Michaelmas to run the world in Algis Budrys's novel Michaelmas (1977)
Obie, an artificial intelligence with the ability to alter local regions of reality, in Jack L. Chalker's Well World series (1977) Well World, the central computer responsible for "simulating" an entire new universe superimposed over the old Markovian one in Jack L. Chalker's Well World series (1977) Sigfrid von Shrink, Albert Einstein, and Polymat, self-aware computer systems in Frederik Pohl's Gateway series, (starting in 1977) TOTAL, the vast military network in Up the Walls of the World by James Tiptree, Jr. (1978) ZORAC, the shipboard computer aboard the ancient spacecraft in The Gentle Giants of Ganymede and the related series by James P. Hogan (1978). 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