5.0553 Computers in Literature (3/51)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Fri, 27 Dec 1991 22:40:18 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0553. Friday, 27 Dec 1991.

(1) Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1991 08:41 EST (24 lines)
From: Jim Wilderotter -- Georgetown Center for Text and
Subject: computers in literature

(2) Date: Fri, 20 Dec 91 18:13 GMT (11 lines)
From: Oxford Text Archive <ARCHIVE@vax.oxford.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: 5.0544 Computers in Literature (3/54)

(3) Date: Sat, 21 Dec 91 16:49 GMT (16 lines)
From: Oxford Text Archive <ARCHIVE@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK>
Subject: 5.0544 Computers in Lit

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1991 08:41 EST
From: Jim Wilderotter -- Georgetown Center for Text and
Subject: computers in literature

Some of the other computers Douglas Adams'
_Hitchhikers_Guide_To_The_Galaxy_ were:

Marvin, the manically-depressed robot.
Eddie, the computer on the Heart of Gold ship.
Improbability Drive, the drive which ran the Heart of Gold, and which
was powered by a cup of hot tea.
Eddie's alter-ego, the backup program for Eddie's personality.
Nutrimat, the nutrition machine about the Heart of Gold, which tied
up all the ships circuits when it was trying to figure out
how to make a cup of tea for Arthur Dent. (You want me to
pour some hot water over some leaves and then squeeze some
juice from a cow into it?)
The automatic surface-to-space and surface defense systems on the
legendary planet.
The policemen and their ship on the legendary planet. Marvin talked to
the ship and depressed it so much that it committed suicide
and killed the robot policemen with it.
Deep Thought, the computer which discovered that the answer to the
question of "Life, the Universe, and Everything" was "42".
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------18----
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 91 18:13 GMT
From: Oxford Text Archive <ARCHIVE@vax.oxford.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: 5.0544 Computers in Literature (3/54)

Am I the only person to have read and been impressed by Julian Barnes'
<title>History of the world in 10 &half; chapters</title>? That has
quite the scariest computer I've read in recent fiction. It runs the
information retrieval system in the dystopic library of the future and
helps its users decide whether or not to go on living.

Lou
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------27----
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 91 16:49 GMT
From: Oxford Text Archive <ARCHIVE@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK>
Subject: 5.0544 Computers in Lit

Before you get deluged with corrections, allow me to apologise for giving
the wrong title for the Julian Barnes book featuring the computer
advising on First and Last things. The book title was of course
<title>Staring at the sun</title> or something like that; the computer
was called the General Purpose Computer or GPC and the program I had
in mind was called TAT, for The Absolute Truth. I had a quick glance
this morning, so I know. It's a very good read, as are all his books
(except for the utterly unreadable Flauberts Parrot).

Right. Back to the Xmas Shopping.

Lou