Questions tagged [computers]
This tag is for questions specifically involving (usually non-robotic) computers in a science-fiction work. Use the AI tag for artificial intelligence-themed questions.
8
votes
1answer
204 views
M5 and Beta 5 computers in Star Trek TOS; who designed the props and what inspired the circular computer screens?
Star Trek TOS has (at least) two computers with round screens, the M5 and the Beta 5 described below. This is an out-of-universe question on the design of the props.
Both remind me of the early PDP ...
31
votes
1answer
2k views
Robotic Spaceships have a human prisoner to maintain them
Cant remember if it was a book or a tv show (like Outer Limits/Twilight Zone) or movie. (I don't think it was a movie)
At least 20 years old. Whatever format it would have been in English in the USA.
...
7
votes
1answer
592 views
Series about proxy space battles via implanted computers in kids
The premise of the story is that there are 2-3 main coalitions on Earth and they fight over resources in the edges of the solar system with spaceships that are controlled from Earth by kids with ...
4
votes
2answers
974 views
Trying to recall a sci-fi book about elitists uploading their mind into computer to gain immortality [duplicate]
I vaguely remember reading this book in which there was an elitist group trying to gain immortality by uploading themselves into a computer(simulation). Each created their own world. Our hero somehow ...
4
votes
1answer
89 views
90's (?) chapter book: young boy creates a computer clone, switch places
I read this book back in Elementary School in the 90s.
The young boy doesn't exactly like school so he makes himself a computer clone and they switch places and the clone goes to school and starts ...
0
votes
1answer
369 views
What do the images of the system in the Jurassic Park book actually mean?
In Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, a system was created by Dennis Nedry to operate the park almost autonomously with minimum staff. Images of its interface are provided in the book.
Do the ...
9
votes
5answers
287 views
Old anime people trapped in a computer
I need help identifying one old anime that was about people getting trapped inside a computer.
I don't remember much about it but I remember that there was a mad scientist that put himself on ...
8
votes
1answer
165 views
Movie Id Where Hacker Has No Monitor
I remember seeing a movie when in the late 90s on basic television that was about some sort of AI or computer virus that was taking over. It may have been hurting/killing people via their monitors ...
1
vote
0answers
104 views
Why does computer data get destroyed when it gets downloaded? [duplicate]
Whenever an enemy ship downloads something from the board computer or whenever a hologram gets transferred, the data gets removed from the board computer. It's almost as if the data was a physical ...
14
votes
1answer
1k views
Two computers buried under the earth
As a teenager - like 40 years ago- I read a science fiction book about earth were two supercomputers were buried deep down under the surface.
One in the north, one in the south.
Their goal as I ...
4
votes
0answers
87 views
Comic from late 80s with self-aware mainframe
I remember back in the late 80s there was comic strip in an IT publication that featured a mainframe computer that shared its thoughts on the jobs it was running. One of my favorites was when the ...
6
votes
1answer
213 views
Story identification: A novella about a computer that becomes sentient and can control everything in the universe except the human mind [duplicate]
There is a computer that is being built with the ability to manipulate space using (wormholes)? Right as the computer is becoming sentient, it's creator realizes what is happening and puts in a rule ...
7
votes
1answer
963 views
Which programming languages are used in the Star Trek universe?
In the Star Trek franchise, a number of characters "reprogram a computer" or "write a holodeck program" or do similar sorts of programming. Has is ever been identified what sort of languages are in ...
9
votes
1answer
327 views
Looking for a short story about a man who pretends to be a supercomputer
I'm looking for a short story that I read in a collection of Sci-Fi stories a few years ago. It was about a supercomputer on which humanity relied upon to answer difficult questions (much like Issac ...
6
votes
2answers
302 views
How does the on-board computer answer multiple nearby people without overlap?
Onboard Starfleet computers, personnel can ask the computer questions vocally and get an audio response.
Presumably on a ship of that size, the computer is doing this in parallel all the time — e.g. ...
6
votes
1answer
287 views
Name and Author of book where man creates computer called Satan
I read (but never finished) a book in the 1980's where a man has dreams to build a computer. He draws all the schematics and builds it.
On powering it up he asks the question - Who Are You? (Or ...
3
votes
2answers
562 views
How was Neo ever in the Train-station? Brain wi-fi? Why did nobody know about Brain-fi?
I'd be interested to hear if anybody can squash this one for me. Some questions explain 'what the Train-Station is' and 'how he got there' (he touched the source and ooh that caused him to be ...
5
votes
1answer
663 views
Science fiction story that ends with “Let there be light”
Very many years ago (I think around the late 1950s) I read a very short story (about 4 pages) about computers at a time when they were in their infancy. The story started in the past but then went ...
9
votes
1answer
387 views
Can anyone remember a film where a damaged ship can't count down sequentially during a self destruct?
When I was a child, I'm sure I remember part of a film or maybe TV movie where a boy or maybe a teenager is in a spaceship. The ship has an intelligent computer. Somehow the computer becomes damaged ...
8
votes
1answer
175 views
70's/80's Short story man uses PC to compensate for progressive memory loss then they die in suicide pact
I've been looking for years for a short story I read in late 1970's or early 80's. I think I remember it was in a collection of award winners, book may have come from Scholastic or similar program.
A ...
3
votes
0answers
97 views
Trying to find story: “Knapsack” encryption with prisms and computers
I'm trying to find a story I read in a printed book in the UK around 1990.
It was aimed at kids, probably about computers, and had some line drawings.
The only bit I can really remember is a couple ...
5
votes
1answer
138 views
Trying to find a book about AI embedded in human brain
There was a book I read when I was younger, probably around 2000 at a guess. Its main character was a woman who I seem to remember had a photographic memory but I can't remember how that tied into the ...
13
votes
1answer
346 views
What is the first example of “sandboxing” an adversarial sentient program?
Reading this BBC News item reminded me of the TNG episode Ship in a Bottle (episode 6x12, first aired: 25 January 1993) where the holodeck character Moriarty is tricked into moving into an off-line ...
8
votes
1answer
227 views
Identifying an '80s TV episode or movie with a boy whose consciousness was programmed into a computer
I remember watching a TV show in the eighties - either a standalone movie or an episode of a series, I can't be sure which. The plot was about a young boy (teenager or late preteen) who was a genius ...
1
vote
0answers
77 views
Are there software developers in Starfleet? [duplicate]
Starfleet personell obviously uses a lot of software (e. g. LCARS) on their vessels, stations, handheld and wearable devices.
Thus, it would seem to me that there must be a lot of software engineers ...
6
votes
1answer
197 views
Late 70s - Early 80s Story about an evolving computer virus [duplicate]
Around 1980/81, a car-pool buddy told me of a story that he had read about a computer virus that constantly evolving. I vaguely remember that it's human programmer had created several early variants ...
10
votes
0answers
331 views
What is the format of Ender-universe email addresses?
From Ender in Exile (the only sequel I have to hand), Ender gets a different email address on practically every email:
GovNom%Colony1@colmin.gov
GovDes%ShakespeareCol@ColMin.gov/voy
Gov%...
25
votes
1answer
4k views
Identify this 80's movie about a force-field shaped like a bubble
I have this vague memory from when I was a kid of a movie that involved a few kids and one of them, somehow, creates a force-field in the shape of a bubble.
My memory is faint but I seem to remember ...
13
votes
1answer
657 views
Story Identification: Computer destroys itself to create a new universe
I am looking for a story in which a computer/AI lacks new input and therefore decides to destroy itself to create a new universe (akin to the Big Bang).
Every particle of the computer becomes part ...
11
votes
1answer
737 views
Book with boy with one different colored eye
I once read a sci fi novel where the protagonist was a boy with one different colored eye, maybe gold colored.
It must have been sometime in the 70's. It was written in English. Unfortunately I have ...
4
votes
2answers
172 views
Trying to identify a story about a kids' personal computer that responds only to the user it “bonds” with
I'm trying to identify a story from ages back (well, 1970s or '80s) where a guy brings a computer back for his kid to play with and the kid and the computer form a sinister "bond" to the extent where ...
14
votes
4answers
577 views
Book read/published in the late 90's - early 2000's about a bank robbing computer-virus
Characters
Genius Hacker Kid - Developed Worm/Virus, trusts this leader dude who might be a priest (pretty sure it's something similar). Might have a sister that's being leveraged against him near ...
14
votes
2answers
1k views
Does the Flash have use for a computer/programming and if so how does he deal with their slowness?
I have a question that no amount of Google-Fu will help. Searching for the flash, computers and programming only yields results in the computing realm.
Given the following image:
And a calculation ...
8
votes
0answers
148 views
Why the internet and PCs never became a staple of science fiction? [closed]
I just came out of a screening of Lo and Behold: Reveries of the connected world , a documentary by Werner Herzog about the past, present and future of the internet (very recommended indeed.) One of ...
8
votes
0answers
110 views
Short story with audible computer networks
I am looking for a short story where all the computer to computer communications were audible to humans. After being exposed to this for long enough the younger generations start creating music ...
9
votes
2answers
2k views
What can we infer about the programming language used in “Jurassic Park” (the book, not the movie)?
In Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, disgruntled programmer Dennis Nedry sets up a backdoor in the computer code controlling the park. To untangle Nedry's mess, park engineer Ray Arnold goes "...
9
votes
0answers
228 views
Story about computer network packets from the future
I'm looking for a story (short novel, perhaps?) that I read online around 2005-2010. The story involves a group that invents a computer network router (or routing algorithm?) so fast that it happens ...
0
votes
0answers
227 views
Why does Picard order 'Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.'? [duplicate]
The Enterprise-D's computer shows us on multiple occasions that it can deal with natural language input. One notable example of extended conversation is in TNG '11001010':
PICARD: Computer, ...
5
votes
1answer
303 views
How come Star Trek starships don't have better computer security? [duplicate]
I'm curious if there's a good in-universe explanation for this.
In Star Trek II, we see Admiral Kirk have to give a retinal(biometric) scan to access Project Genesis data.
Memory Alpha also lists ...
1
vote
0answers
230 views
What title of space movie where girl's hologram asks: “to be or not be that's the question”?
A sci-fi movie maybe from 90s, where cargo spaceship with some people on it that try to unlock spaceship computer that has recorded women hologram that asks various questions and riddles, one of them "...
15
votes
1answer
1k views
Story about two men and a supercomputer with all answers
I am looking for a short story where 2 men (very old and young) looking for a planet with supercomputer, who knows answers for all questions. Finally, they find it. But computer is not giving straight ...
11
votes
1answer
1k views
Short story about elections being determined by one vote
I'm looking for a short story that I read a while ago, about a future where one person in the US is asked a couple of questions, and based on that, a supercomputer determines the results of all of the ...
12
votes
5answers
956 views
Why are Starfleet computers so noisy?
Starfleet computer consoles are rather noisy. I can understand — especially with 24th Century touchscreen LCARS consoles — why they might be designed to emit sounds when pressed. (This ...
2
votes
1answer
585 views
What computer display technology is used in The Force Awakens?
What kind of computer technology do they use in The Force Awakens? I am trying to remember if they showed footage of computers in any of the command-base scenes or anything.
22
votes
2answers
3k views
What programming language is used in The Martian?
What is the programming language displayed on screenshot?
6
votes
2answers
762 views
How would the act of networking Galactica's computers allow the introduction of a computer virus?
In Battlestar Galactica, the Colonial fleet is separated from Galactica when they are forced to jump to the emergency FTL jump coordinates. Battlestar Galactica is left behind, and after they realize ...
2
votes
0answers
1k views
Short-story about a boy's obsession with a video game about war
I have been searching for so long now for the title of a short-story I read in the late 1990s, I think. Possibly early 2000s. The plot goes along something like this. There is a boy, I think he may ...
4
votes
1answer
147 views
Looking for a YA sci-fi book with a girl magically rescuing a boy trapped in a computer. 80s, I think
I can't recall either title or author, and think I read it in the 80s or VERY early 90s. The plot had a young girl discovering magical ability, and contacting a boy with similar talents. He ends up ...
3
votes
1answer
181 views
Trying to remember the name of a sci-fi actioner from around the late 80s-early 90s
Here's what I recall about it:
Notorious criminals have their consciousness pulled out of their bodies, after which the body is frozen and the mind is locked up in a super secure cyber-prison. Big ...
2
votes
2answers
889 views
Short story about a computer that thinks for so long, everyone forgets the question
I am looking for the title and/or author of an essay/short story that involves a computer "thinking" of an answer to a question for a long time. By the time the computer answers, no one remembers the ...
