from the December 1962 issue of Computers and Automation

A thoughtful and interesting look into the role of computers in the literature of fantasy and science fiction.

Marcia Ascher
Asst. Prof. of Math. and Physics
Ithaca College
Ithaca, N. Y.

An editorial in a local newspaper (1) stated: “We are just at the beginning of the computer age. Who (but a science fiction writer) would venture to predict what lies ahead?” Although science fiction does provide fictitious views of computers of the future, its greater value lies in its concern for the social and moral aspects of technological innovations. It frequently functions as “a means of dramatizing social inquiry, as providing a fictional mode in which cultural tendencies can be isolated and judged.” (2) An examination is undertaken here of the science fiction stories that concern computers; and the themes of these stories are identified and discussed.