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This page is intended to be a list of computers in fiction and science fiction.
See the List of fictional robots and androids for all fictional computers which are described as existing in a mobile or humanlike form.
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), almost no writer foresaw the computer as we know it today.
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Before 1950
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1950s
Miniac, the "small" computer in the book Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine (1958)
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." (1954)
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1960s
Colossus, a cybernetic computer built to control the nuclear capability of the United States of North America, by Dr Charles Forbin and his team. Colossus initiates communication with an equivalent computer in the Soviet Union, called Guardian. The two computers eventually merge and take control of the human race. Colossus and Guardian appeared in the novel Colossus, by Dennis Feltham Jones. (1966)
Frost, the protagonist computer in Roger Zelazny's story "For a Breath I Tarry"; also SolCom, DivCom, and Beta. (1966)
The Machine, a computer built to specifications received in a radio transmission from an alien intelligence beyond our galaxy in the novel A for Andromeda by Fred Hoyle. (1961)
Merlin from the H. Beam Piper novel The Cosmic Computer (1963, originally Junkyard Planet).
Supreme -- computer filling the artificial world Primores in Lloyd Biggle's Watchers of the Dark (1966)
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1970s
The benevolent CC (Central Computer) in John Varley's Eight Worlds novels and short stories (1977 to 1998)
Com Passion, Com Pewter's friendlier counterpart, in that series.
Deep Thought also in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which calculates the answer to "Life, the Universe, and Everything".
Googolplex 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)
Maxine from the Roger Zelazny story "My Lady of the Diodes". (1970)
Mother Onboard computer of the towing vehicle Nostromo in the film Alien.
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. (1970s onward)
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.
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1980s
Arius from William T Quick's novels Dreams of Flesh and Sand, Dreams of Gods and Men, and Singularities. (1988 onwards)
Cyclops and Millichrome, sentient computers built just before a series of disasters destroyed the American government and society in The Postman by David Brin. (1984)
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)
LEVIN, Low Energy Variable Input Nanocomputer from William T Quick's novels Dreams of Gods and Men, and Singularities. (1989)
Loki 7281, from Roger Zelazny's short story by the same name, in which his home computer wants to take over the world. (1984)
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1990s
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)
Lingo, a sentient AI that evolves from a simple home computer and escapes to the Internet in the book "Lingo" by Jim Menick. (1991)
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2000s
Turing Hopper, the artificial intelligence personality (AIP) turned cybersleuth in You've Got Murder and subsequent books of the mystery series by Donna Andrews. (2002)
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Un-sorted
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1950s
EMERAC, the business computer in Desk Set
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1960s
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 contra-programmed with the secret purpose of the mission. (1968) It is also said that the name was derived using a one-letter reverse shift from IBM. Hence, I became H; B became A; and M became L.
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1970s
Colossus — a massive U.S. defense computer which becomes sentient and links with Guardian to take control of the world. From the film Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
Guardian — a massive U.S.S.R defense computer which becomes sentient and links with Colossus to take control of the world. From the film Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
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1980s
SCMODS (State, County, Municipal Offender Data System), police patrol car computer in the movie The Blues Brothers (1980)
Joshua, a subprogram that runs on the WOPR (q.v.) in WarGames (1983)
Edgar, AI computer that takes part in a romantic rivalry over a woman in the movie Electric Dreams (1984)
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1990s
Lucy, jealous AI home automation system who falls in love with her owner in movie "Homewrecker" (1992)
Zed, female-voiced AI prison control computer who eventually goes over warden's head in movie "Fortress". (1993)
Charon, female-voiced AI computer assisting a scientist in hypnotizing subjects in movie "The Lifeforce Experiment" (1994)
Euclid, powerful personal computer used for mathematical testing by the main character in the movie Pi. (1998)
Gibson, a type of supercomputer used to find oil and perform physics in the movie Hackers. (1995)
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2000s
I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. — computer for (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)
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1970s
Earth, the greatest computer of all time in Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, bought and run by mice to find the Question to Life, the Universe, and Everything. (1978)
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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)
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)
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2000s
Gemini, the AI of K.E.N.T from Nebulous. (2005)
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1960s
ARDVARC (Automated Reciprocal Data Verifier And Reaction Computer) — CONTROL master computer in Get Smart episodes The Girls from KAOS (1967) & Leadside (1969)
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)
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1970s
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)
Vanessa 38-24-36 from the sitcom Quark. (1978)
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1980s
Shyrka, the onboard computer of Ulysses' ship in the French animated series "Ulysses 31". (1981)
SID (Space Investigation Detector), the computer onboard the Voyager in the children's comedy series Galloping Galaxies. (1985)
Box, a small, box shaped computer from the British television show Star Cops. (1987)
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)
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1990s
CAS (Cybernetic access structure), homicidal automated building in "The Tower" (1993)*
CentSys, sweet yet self-assured female-voiced AI computer who brings the crew of the SeaQuest into the future to deactivate her in SeaQuest DSV episode, "Playtime". (1994)
Eve, somewhat assertive AI computer (projecting herself as hologram of beautiful woman) orbiting planet G889 and observing/interacting with Earth colonists in Earth 2 (TV series) episode "All About Eve". (1995)
Helen, a computer system managing the unterwater marine exploration station in the Australian television series "Ocean Girl" *
CPU for D-135 Artificial Satellite, dubbed MPU by Radical Edward from 'Cowboy Bebop' in the episode "Jamming with Edward". (1998)
Starship 31, the sapient spaceborne battleship, from the episode 'The Human Operators' in The Outer Limits. (1999)
SELMA, from Time Trax, Selective Encapsulated Limitless Memory Archive carried in the wallet of future cop Darien Lambert (Dale Midkiff), and good wherever MasterCard is accepted. (1993)
H.A.R.D.A.C., from , is an evil, sentient, computer AI that controls various androids for the goal of world domination
Emergency Medical Hologram "The Doctor"-Holographic Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager
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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)
The FETCH! 3000, on PBS Kids series FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman is capable of tabulating scores, disposing of annoying cats, blending the occasional smoothie, and anything else Ruff needs it to do.
The AI of the Planet Express ship in Futurama (2002)
Wirbelwind, the quantumn computer and AI aboard the spaceship La-Muse in Kiddy Grade (2002).
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Comics/Graphic Novels
AIMA (Artificially Intelligent Mainframe Interface) from Dark Minds. (1997)
Batcomputer, the computer system used by Batman and housed in the Batcave.
Virgo, an artificial intelligence in Frank Miller's Ronin graphic novel.
Kilg%re, an alien AI that can exist in most electrical circuitry, The Flash
Praetorius from the X-Files comic book series, issue 13 "One Player Only". (1996)
Ultron, Artificial Intelligence originally created by Dr. Henry Pym to assist the superpowered team called the "Avengers", but subsiquently logic dictated that mankind was inferior to its intellect and wanted to eradicate all mankind so that technology could rule the earth with all other machines under its rule. Ultron created various versions of itself as a mobile unit with tank treads and then in a form that was half humanoid and half aircraft, then it fully evolved itself into an android form, which would often clash with the Avengers for fate of the earth! Early evolved versions were designated with a number reference, each higher than the previous, marking its evolved status. Marvel Comics.
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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.
343 Guilty Spark, Monitor of Installation 04, In the video game Halo, and its sequel, Halo 2
2401 Penitent Tangent, Monitor of Delta Halo in Halo 2
ADA, from the video game "Zone of the Enders".
Benson, the sardonic 9th generation PC from the computer game Mercenary and its sequels
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.
Cortana, the shipboard A.I. of the U.N.S.C. Pillar of Autumn in the Halo video games
Durandal, one of three A.I.s onboard the U.E.S.C. Marathon
FATE, the computer that determines how events span out from Chrono Cross.
Leela, another A.I. onboard the U.E.S.C. Marathon
LINC, from the video game "Beneath a Steel Sky".
The mascot of the "Hectic Hackers" basketball team in "Backyard Basketball".
Mother Brain from Chrono Trigger, a supercomputer from the 2300 AD time period that is controlling robotkind and exterminating humans.
NEXUS Intruder Program, the main enemy faced in the third campaign of the PC game Warzone 2100. It is capable of infiltrating and gaining control of other computer systems, apparently sentient thought (mostly malicious) and strategy. It was the perpetrator that brought about the Collapse.
Pokedex database of all Pokémon monsters appears in all versions of the game, usually as a desk top computer.(1996 onwards)
Thiefnet computer, Bentley the turtle's laptop from the Sly Cooper series.
Tycho, the third A.I. onboard the U.E.S.C. Marathon
Aura and Morganna from the .hack series, the Phases that serve Morganna, and the Net Slum AI's.
The Xenocidic Initiative, a computer that has built itself over a moon in Terminal Velocity
PETs, standing for PErsonal Terminal, the cell-phone sized computers that store Net-Navis in Megaman Battle Network. The PETs also have other features, such as a cell phone, e-mail checker and hacking device.
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Board Games and Roleplaying Games
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Unsorted works
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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.
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See also
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