Human Computers

[Ulrich]

Hello, I am looking for novels and short stories where people are functioning as "computers". An example from history is Pickering's harem, in which women made calculations in astronomy.
Examples in science fiction are:
Sean Mcmullen: Souls in the Great Machine
Lou Fisher: Nobody named Gallix
and of course the mentats from Dune.

Do you know more stories?

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

This is part of the novel Wolfbane by Pohl and Kornbluth.

. . . surgically “wired together” with seven other humans to form one of the Pyramids’ numerous biological computers, which they utilize to run all of the complex machinery . . .

Source:




Pohl Plus Kornbluth Part 7: Wolfbane | Fantastical Andrew Fox

 

[The Judge]

I can't think of anything immediately, but I'll move your thread over to General Book discussion, since that's where those who are eager to recommend books lurk, and I dare say others will be able to give some good ideas. (Book Search is really for looking for a particular novel you've read and part-remember, but the title is lost amid the jumble of your brain!)

 

[Gramm838]

Dune - some of the characters (Peter de Vries being one) are known as 'mentats' and they act as human computers since AI's are outlawed

 

[chrispenycate]

I'm going to suggest a couple of oldish short stories:- 'Misfit' from RA Heinlein (Slipstick Libby) and 'Into the comet' by Arthur C Clarke (abacus). Both from times when computing was considerably less advanced. I'm sure more will surface.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Might be a stretch - Simon Ilyan in Vorkosigan has an eidetic memory chip inserted which gives him a perfect memory. Silver by Chris Wooding has people being turned into nano-bot-machines, one of whom retains her own awareness.

 

[PaulMmn]

Ah... History!
.
Two by Robert A Heinlein. a) In "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," computer entity 'Mike' keeps glomming up all the silicon computing power on Luna, so the banks in Hong-Kong Luna revert to rows of clerks running abacuses. 2) This one's a bit of a long stretch, but in "Starman Jones," data to compute starship jumps is entered into a ship's computers by toggling binary numbers using a 'keyboard' much like a morse-code telegrapher's key. The person who did the entry sat in a 'saddle.' I always imagined it as a horse-like saddle, but may only have been a fancy chair. Anyway, data is entered in binary... and calculations are a combination of manual, slip-stick, and computer. Numbers are looked up in large books of binary equivalents. Our Hero has a photographic memory, and has 'read' his uncle's binary books. So when The Villain destroys the books on board the ship, Our Hero has to toggle the numbers in, using his photographic memory... I told you it was a stretch!
.
--Paul E Musselman

 

[Wazkal]

Lobot from Star Wars was wired to the main computer in Cloud City. Does that count?

 

[chrispenycate]

I suppose Anne McCaffrey's 'Ship that sang' series brains were almost being used as hard wired computers, though they did have emotions, inconveniencing precise calculations.

And can we consider the externally maintained head in C.S. Lewis' That hideous strength'?

 

[psikeyhackr]

Turing Option by Harry Harrison

 

[chrispenycate]

Turing Option by Harry Harrison

and Marvin Minsky. But that's more a computer augmenting a living brain (as is the eidetic chip in Simon Ilian), rather than an organic brain functioning as a calculating machine. There are lots of 'computer interface/augmented mental cybourg' type stories, but I'm convinced I've read more 'brain in a bottle/element in larger computing rig' tales too; it's just that I can't persuade my worn out memory to deliver them.

 

[Montero]

To Hold Infinity - John Meaney.

Human intelligence being augmented by multiple processing cores - and he writes a form of code into the story. Not quite 100% what you asked for, but you might enjoy it.