Multivac

Multivac is the name of a fictional supercomputer in many stories by Isaac Asimov from 1955 to 1979. According to his autobiography In Memory Yet Green, Asimov coined the name in imitation of UNIVAC, an early mainframe computer. While he initially intended the name to stand for "Multiple vacuum tubes", his later short story "The Last Question" expands the AC suffix to be "analog computer".

MULTIVAC [1]is also the name of a global packaging machinery company based in Germany and with subsidiaries all around the world specialising in the manufacture of Vacuum Packing Machines, Tray Sealing Machines, Thermoforming Machines and a wide range of Labelling, Loading, Handling and Quality Assurance Equipment. But regrettably with no connection to Isaac Asimov fictional creation other than the name!

Like most of the technologies Asimov describes in his fiction, Multivac's exact specifications vary among appearances. In all cases, it is a government-run computer that answers questions, buried deep underground for security purposes. However, Asimov never settles on a particular size for the computer (except for mentioning it is very large) or the supporting facilities around it. Unlike the artificial intelligences portrayed in his Robot Series, Multivac's interface is mechanized and impersonal, consisting of complex command consoles few humans can operate. Though the technology depended on bulky vacuum tubes, the concept - that all information could be contained on computer(s) and accessed from a domestic terminal - constitutes an early reference to the possibility of the Internet. (see "Anniversary" for how it was used).

Story lines

In the early Multivac story, "Franchise", Multivac chooses a single "most representative" person from the population of the United States, whom the computer then interrogates to determine the country's overall orientation. All elected offices are then filled by the candidates the computer deems acceptable to the populace. Asimov wrote this story as the logical culmination— and/or possibly the reductio ad absurdum—of UNIVAC's ability to forecast election results from small samples.

In possibly the most famous Multivac story, "The Last Question", two slightly drunken technicians ask Multivac if humanity can reverse the increase of entropy. Multivac fails, displaying the error message "INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER". The story continues through many iterations of computer technology, each more powerful and ethereal than the last. Each of these computers is asked the question, and each returns the same response until finally the universe dies. At that point Multivac has collected all the data it can, since there can be no more to collect; it finds an answer, reverses entropy and creates the universe anew.

In "All the Troubles of the World", the version of Multivac depicted reveals a very unexpected problem. Having had the weight of the whole of humanity's problems on its figurative shoulders for ages it has grown tired, and sets plans in motion to cause its own death.

Multivac bibliography

Asimov's stories featuring Multivac:

• "Question" (1955; withdrawn)
• "Franchise" (1955)
• "The Dead Past" (1956)
• "Someday" (1956)
• "The Last Question" (1956)
• "Jokester" (1956)
• "All the Troubles of the World" (1958)
• "Anniversary" (1959)
• "The Machine that Won the War" (1961)
• "My Son, the Physicist" (1962)
• "Key Item" (1968)
• "The Life and Times of Multivac" (1975)
• "Point of View" (1975)
• "True Love" (1977)
• "It Is Coming" (1979)
• "Potential" (1983)
• "Hallucination" (published posthumously in 1995) features the Central Computer, the apparent successor of Mulitvac