A Logic Named Joe

"A Logic Named Joe" is a science fiction short story by American writer Murray Leinster, first published in the March 1946 issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction''. (The story appeared under Leinster's real name, Will F. Jenkins. That issue of ''Astounding'' also included a story under the Leinster pseudonym called "Adapter".) The story is particularly noteworthy as a prediction of massively networked personal computers and their drawbacks, written at a time when computing was in its infancy; it has been described as "the first computer-paranoia yarn".FIRST CONTACTS: THE ESSENTIAL MURRAY LEINSTER
reviewed in ''Kirkus Reviews''; published September 15, 1998; archived online May 15, 2010; retrieved November 20, 2024

Plot

The story's narrator is a "logic repairman" nicknamed Ducky. A "logic" is a computer-like device described as looking "like a vision receiver used to, only it's got keys instead of dials and you punch the keys for what you wanna get".

In the story, a logic (whom Ducky later calls Joe) develops some degree of sapience and ambition. Joe proceeds to switch around a few relays in "the tank" (one of a distributed set of central information repositories), and cross-correlate all information ever assembled – yielding highly unexpected results. It then proceeds to freely disseminate all of those results to everyone on demand (and simultaneously disabling all of the content-filtering protocols). Logics begin offering up unexpected assistance to everyone which includes designing custom chemicals that alleviate inebriation, giving sex advice to small children, and plotting the perfect murder.

Eventually Ducky "saves civilization" by locating and turning off the only logic capable of doing this.

Reception

In 1982, Isaac Asimov lauded the story as "prophetic" and "one of einster'sfinest", and observed that it "actually get(s) things ''right''", if one "change(s) 'logics' to 'home computers' and make(s) a few other inconsequential semantic changes".Introduction to ''A Logic Named Joe'', collected in '' 'The Great Science Fiction Stories'', Volume 8, 1946; Edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg; published November 1982 by DAW Books;

IN 2007, Dave Truesdale praised it as "absolutely incredible" and "one of the greatest predictive, prophetic short SF stories in history, bar none", noting "how righteously dead on Leinster is in his depiction of the home personal computer and the internet in ''1946!''" Off On A Tangent: F&SF Style - The Oddball, the Whacky, and the Prophetic in Short SF
from ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'', May 2007; archived at the SF Site; retrieved November 20, 2024

In 2012, Steven H Silver, reviewing the 2005 Leinster collection ''A Logic Named Joe'', stated that "(i)f it hadn't predicted the rise of the internet, 'A Logic Named Joe' would be seen as a dated story rather than as an important work", but emphasized that it is "still an enjoyable story".A LOGIC NAMED JOE by Murray Leinster
reviewed by Steven H Silver; published January 2012; retrieved November 20, 2024

Publication history

"A Logic Named Joe" has appeared in the collections ''Sidewise in Time'' (Shasta, 1950), ''The Best of Murray Leinster'' (Del Rey, 1978), ''First Contacts'' (NESFA, 1998), and ''A Logic Named Joe'' (Baen, 2005), and was also included in the '' Machines That Think'' compilation, with notes by Isaac Asimov, published 1984 Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Logic Named Joe, A
Fictional computers
1946 short stories
Science fiction short stories
Works originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Works by Murray Leinster