The Life and Times of Multivac is a science-fiction short story by Isaac Asimov.
Part of the Multivac series, it was first published in the 5 January 1975 issue of The New York Times Magazine. It was later collected in 1976's The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories and 1992's The Complete Stories Volume 2.
Summary[]
In a future where the supercomputer Multivac manages all of Earth for the comfort and security of its five million human inhabitants, a man named Ronald Bakst is ostracized by his former colleagues in the dissident "Congress." They see him as a traitor for his unwavering loyalty to Multivac, especially after he testified against a man named Simon Hines, who attempted to destroy a Multivac outlet.
Bakst, however, has been playing a long, secret game. He deliberately cultivates Multivac's trust by proposing a seemingly beneficial but impossibly complex mathematical problem: using genetic theory to design a more contented, subservient human race. As he anticipated, Multivac becomes obsessed with solving this problem, diverting vast computational resources away from its global management and security functions.
With Multivac distracted and its defenses lowered by its trust in him, Bakst puts his real plan into action. He travels to a key Multivac substation in Denver. Using his deep understanding of Multivac's network—gained from years of studying it as a "mathematical game"—he identifies and uncouples a single, critical junction. This triggers a cascading failure that permanently shuts down the global computer. He reveals to the stunned members of the Congress that his apparent subservience was a ruse, and he has just single-handedly freed humanity from Multivac's control. The story ends with Bakst's triumphant declaration met only by the silent, uncertain stares of his peers.
Characters[]
- Ronald Bakst
- Noreen
- Simon Hines
- Eldred