"The Life and Times of Multivac" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the 5 January 1975 issue of ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'', and was reprinted in the collections ''

The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories ''The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories'' is a science fiction anthology written and edited by Isaac Asimov. Following the usual form for Asimov collections, it consists of eleven short stories and a poem surrounded by commentary describing how e ...

'' and ''The Best of Creative Computing'' in 1976. It is one of a loosely connected series of stories concerning a fictional supercomputer called

Multivac Multivac is the name of a fictional supercomputer appearing in over a dozen science fiction stories by American writer Isaac Asimov. Asimov's depiction of Multivac, a mainframe computer accessible by terminal, originally by specialists using mac ...

. "The Life and Times of Multivac" was the first piece of fiction ever commissioned and published by ''The New York Times''.Asimov, I. ''

In Joy Still Felt Isaac Asimov (–1992) wrote three volumes of autobiography. ''In Memory Yet Green'' (1979) and ''In Joy Still Felt'' (1980) were a two-volume work, covering his life up to 1978. The third volume, ''I. Asimov: A Memoir'' (1994), published after his ...

'' (Avon, 1980) page 694 Asimov's original title for the story was "Mathematical Games", but after the story appeared under the new title he decided he liked it. In his commentary on the story in ''The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories'' collection, Asimov stated, "More people came up to me over the next few weeks to tell me they had read that story than had ever been the case for any other story I had ever written."

Plot summary

When humanity begins to chafe under Multivac’s benevolent tyranny, one man takes matters into his own hands to destroy the great computer. By appearing to betray his fellow humans, he places himself in a position to permanently destroy Multivac. It is implied that it is not until completion of the act that he and his peers suddenly realize the enormity of their actions and the consequences it will have on humanity.

References

External links

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"The Life and Times of Multivac"
at atariarchives.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Life And Times Of Multivac, The Multivac short stories by Isaac Asimov 1975 short stories Works originally published in The New York Times Magazine