Questions tagged [computers]

For questions specifically involving (usually non-robotic) computers in a science-fiction work. Use the AI tag for artificial intelligence-themed questions.

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The other TRON game [closed]

I'm looking for a computer version of the OTHER TRON game from the original film. Not the light cycle one, but the one played with discs on a circular light platform. If the contestants fail to catch ...
JMP's user avatar
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19 votes
1 answer
1k views

Story where someone gets disconnected from computers for cybercrime

I read a short (in the range of 5-20 pages) science fiction story a while ago, and can't remember the title of the story or its author at the moment. The basic story is that of a super-savvy computer ...
Shokhet's user avatar
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19 votes
1 answer
2k views

A unity of gamers try to revolt against economic system

I am searching for a book that I read a few years ago. I know that it was written between 2008-2014 and that the author's name sounded Russian. Cover: A black cover with a computer (comic style) and ...
TheTanic's user avatar
  • 293
31 votes
3 answers
2k views

Sci-fi novel about biological computers put into people's heads, making assassins

I recently had the memory of an old sci-fi novel come back to me (1970s or 1980s). secret organization making thimble-sized biological computers to implant into wealthy and powerful people's heads ...
jhpace1's user avatar
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8 votes
4 answers
1k views

Can the Jedi manipulate electronics?

Can a Jedi manipulate electronics? For instance could they scramble the machine code running on a robot? If they can't why not? They can manipulate physical objects so manipulating the insides of a ...
JonasE's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
894 views

Is Deep Thought a quantum computer or a binary computer?

I just saw The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and now I wonder whether the big computer, Deep Thought, is a quantum computer or a usual binary computer. Does anyone know?
MinecraftShamrock's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
1k views

Turing test in Star Trek?

For the benefit of those unacquainted with the Turing Test, it is a test proposed by computer scientist and philosopher Alan Turing. The idea was that a person would talk with a computer, unaware of ...
Often Right's user avatar
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1 answer
363 views

Instance of antagonist's computer system being female? [closed]

I have noticed after watching several sci-fi movies where there are computer systems involved that more often than not the protagonist's computer has a female voice and the antagonist's computer has a ...
Often Right's user avatar
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12 votes
2 answers
3k views

What is the first reference in Sci-Fi to a touch-screen computer interface?

I know in TNG that all computer interfaces are now touch-screen, and that got me thinking: when was the first reference to touch-screen computer interfaces in Sci-Fi made?
Often Right's user avatar
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12 votes
3 answers
926 views

Looking for science fiction short stories by programmers

This was a collection of stories by software geeks, I believe. Two key stories included: A supercomputer used to solve the problem of tornadoes An explorer who gave up his lunch while being thrown ...
JanMan's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
771 views

Are there any further developments of the M5?

In the TOS episode 'The Ultimate Computer', we see the problems with the M5 unit by Dr Daystrom. I know in TNG, and even VOY, there is still need for a crew aboard the ship, but is there any further ...
Often Right's user avatar
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12 votes
2 answers
887 views

In TNG, what is the point of a user ID?

Using the LCARS system of TNG, users still need to input their command authorization code in some instances (eg "Picard-Epsilon-7-9-3"). If the computer can identify a person's ID based on their ...
Often Right's user avatar
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13 votes
3 answers
2k views

First use of a Quantum Computer in Science Fiction

Nobel-prize winning physicist Richard Feynman is given credit as inventing the concept of quantum computers in about 1982 in the paper "Simulating physics with computers." Also, recently the company ...
vzn's user avatar
  • 255
3 votes
1 answer
893 views

Virtual reality computer game set in a fantasy world

I need help remembering a paperback style book that had a fantasy adventure computer game being played by a young boy and then followed up I believe by his older sister whom I presume had to rescue ...
AJK's user avatar
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6 votes
5 answers
1k views

1960's book: man trapped in a computer or Virtual Reality experiment, is given clues on how to get out by the people running the experiment

A man is trapped in a computer or Virtual Reality experiment. The people running the experiment feed clues into the simulation to let the man know he is trapped and to give him information on how to ...
Craig's user avatar
  • 139
2 votes
4 answers
2k views

Who originally programmed "The Matrix"?

I know it says the "The Architect" is the architect... but I guess I am asking, as a software developer myself, how could one person program the whole matrix himself? It would take many lifetimes to ...
Ace's user avatar
  • 207
4 votes
4 answers
607 views

What was sci-fi book where the main character could read computer networks [duplicate]

In 1990 I was buying some science journal, and it used to publish excerpts from sci-fi and fantasy books. In such a way I got acquainted to Ursula Le Guin and etc. I remember there was a (maybe short)...
B.I.'s user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
793 views

I can't remember this short story…UbiComp?

I am sure there is a Sci-Fi Short Story out there where a man follows the directions of his handheld life assistant or something that tells him where to go and what to do. He blindly follows its ...
Brian's user avatar
  • 51
6 votes
1 answer
901 views

SF movie where the main character hits the "end of the road" when trying to exit from the city

I've tried searching trough top lists for this movie. I only remember little from this movie, I may even be wrong off a general gender. Anyway, the reason I'm pretty confident it actually belongs to ...
Strucker's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
2k views

How accurate is hacking in science fiction movies? [closed]

I guess we all have seen someone hacking into another organization/person's computer/server with those fancy blue screen interfaces like in Die Hard 4, Iron Man, Matrix and so on. Now I wonder, is it ...
Xeon's user avatar
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14 votes
1 answer
979 views

Title of story/book: Super intelligent computer-program being tested at space-station

I'm pretty sure I read this story at Baen Free Library, but as they've taken down most stories to re-organize, I don't remember the title. I'm not sure if it was a book by itself or just a story in a ...
Baard Kopperud's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
508 views

Crime investigation involving quantum computers

I read a book a while ago, yet cannot for the life of me remember its name. Sorry I cant be more specific but I'm pretty sure it was within the last 2 years. Couldn't say if it was new. But it was ...
Chris's user avatar
  • 193
10 votes
1 answer
788 views

What's the origin of an "Avenger" computer virus?

I noticed that a couple of sci-fi shows refer to a computer virus named "Avenger". I doubt this is a coincidence, and suspect they're referring to something, possibly real or possibly fictional. The ...
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13 votes
4 answers
1k views

Why don't Starfleet ships transport injured crew members to sick bay automatically?

There have been countless times when a Starfleet ship is not in battle and a crewmember has been injured and rendered unconscious. When someone says "Computer, locate X", the computer says where they ...
Ky -'s user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
668 views

What type of computer network would the Matrix be considered [closed]

My basic understanding of computer networks is that they fall under two categories: Client-Server or Peer to Peer Can the Matrix be defined in one of these two ways, or is there another category ...
Monty129's user avatar
  • 14k
17 votes
2 answers
1k views

Was LCARS derived from an open-source codebase?

It's a well-established part of canon that humans in the 23rd+ century Star Trek universe work to better themselves and the rest of humanity, and have largely done away with the profit motive. It ...
git with it's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
497 views

Story on quantum indeterminacy: protagonist has to “quantum select” a portable computer’s state [duplicate]

Story: protagonist receives a device, which looks like a portable computer, and has to use his “quantum reality version selection” abilities to pick the one reality’s version where the computer has ...
kagali-san's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
6k views

Story with a supercomputer with a God complex

I can't remember the title or author in which a new super computer is built and it answers the question... Is there a god? (omninously) with There is now.
NimChimpsky's user avatar
20 votes
5 answers
3k views

Does the computer-system on the Enterprise NCC-1701-D still follow the basic architecture of a Turing Machine?

Although the Turing Machine is a theoretical model to describe computing power, in its basic idea today's computers are still (quite sophisticated) implementations of this basic concept, although you ...
bitmask's user avatar
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14 votes
4 answers
881 views

What was the first work to posit the equivalence of magic rituals and computer algorithms?

I have run across a small number of stories that posit a metaphysical equivalence between traditional magical rituals, and modern mathematical rituals (i.e. computer programming or proving certain ...
user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
722 views

Futuristic reading devices story from 1970's/1980's

Growing up, we had those huge reading books with pieces of stories, comprehension questions, and author blurbs published by McGraw Hill, etc. When I was in 4th grade (circa 1984), we read a story ...
Ginger's user avatar
  • 201
11 votes
1 answer
773 views

Identify book : Quantum computers, bad guy with some skin problem related to sunlight/UV radiation, and the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse

Can anyone help me identify a science fiction book I read about 15 years ago? I can only remember snippets of it and I'd love to read it again if someone can help me track it down. Hopefully I ...
Gortron's user avatar
  • 768
9 votes
2 answers
785 views

Book about a man who can interface with computers; travels on spaceship

I read the first of what I think was a trilogy back in the 1980s, as a child. It was about a man, set fairly far in the future. He was travelling on a large spaceship. He had one companion, a ...
pennyrave's user avatar
  • 201
21 votes
7 answers
1k views

What is the earliest instance of a SciFi work describing a massive universal database of knowledge?

What is the earliest instance of a SciFi work describing a system satisfying the following criteria (basically a massive computer database coupled with the networking system to access it available to ...
DVK-on-Ahch-To's user avatar
14 votes
4 answers
937 views

Is the IP address used realistically in the book "REAMDE"?

I understand that IP addresses are not reliable in pin-pointing a person's physical location. The inaccuracy is attributed to multiple factors. The IP could be from the DHCP pool and shared between ...
杜興怡's user avatar
  • 337
21 votes
2 answers
2k views

Story wherein a computer, which can answer any question, refuses to do so?

Trying to remember a story I read some years ago. Summary: IBM came up with a computer that could answer any question put to it. The President asks it a question which it refuses to answer. Prez sends ...
Shalom's user avatar
  • 211
8 votes
2 answers
4k views

Is the computer security scenario in the movie "Die Hard 4" realistic? [closed]

I watched the movie Die Hard 4, in which they show how someone hacked the complete system of US. They were able to get inside every traffic camera and even cameras in lifts. I want to know if this ...
Mirage's user avatar
  • 189
13 votes
1 answer
1k views

Identify Short Story about a Man/Computer trying to hack into a casino in Mars

This is a short story I read back in the 80's (but it could be older). It centered around a man who was artificially augmented with a computer that could be plugged directly to his spine. The story ...
System Down's user avatar
32 votes
2 answers
2k views

Short story with an old programmer about to lose his job who triggers a Trojan Horse that only he can fix

I remember reading a short story many years ago (1980s) about an old computer programmer who was about to be forced into mandatory retirement. After receiving the news from his boss he returns to his ...
oosterwal's user avatar
  • 437
28 votes
7 answers
3k views

What novel was the first to mention or predict a personal handheld computer?

Science-fiction writers are often credited with "inventing the future" with some of their ideas. For example, the idea of geostationary satellites is often attributed to Arthur C. Clarke. What novel ...
Brenton Taylor's user avatar
43 votes
9 answers
21k views

In the Dune series, why are they not using computers and programming related technologies?

I've never quite understood this about the series. They have space travel, but most other things about their universe seem primitive compared to ours.
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