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mendax [soylentnews.org] writes:

El Reg published a story [theregister.co.uk] today, the topic of which was a 70-year-old science fiction story, one that predicted the Internet, its problems, and more:

Buried deep in the pages of the March 1946 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine sits a short story by Murray Leinster [wikipedia.org] that, 70 years on, has proven a remarkably sharp prediction of both 21st century consumer technology and culture. [...]

Though Leinster never achieved the notoriety of other science fiction visionaries such as Asimov or Philip K Dick, A Logic Named Joe has been recognized by, among others, the Computer History Museum [computerhistory.org] as "one of the most prescient views of the capabilities of computers in a network." [...]

In the story, Leinster envisions a future in which every home is equipped with a "logic" device that serves as both a reference source and entertainment box. Each logic connects to a "tank" where huge stores of data are kept. In Leinster's own words:

You got a logic in your house. It looks like a vision receiver used to, only it's got keys instead of dials, and you punch the keys for what you wanna get. It's hooked in to the tank, which has the Carson Circuit all fixed up with relays. Say you punch 'Station SNAFU' on your logic. Relays in the tank take over an' whatever vision-program SNAFU is telecastin' comes on your screen ... But besides that, if you punch for the weather forecast or who won today's race at Hialeah or who was the mistress of the White House durin' Garfield's administration or what is PDQ and R sellin' for today, that comes on the screen too.

The story goes on to tell how "Joe," a rogue logic with a slight manufacturing defect, becomes self-aware and resolves to provide his owners and all other "logic" users with whatever information they require. Leinster says of Joe:

Joe ain't vicious, you understand. He ain't like one of those ambitious robots you read about that make up their minds the human race is inefficient and has got to be wiped out an' replaced by thinkin' machines. Joe's just got ambition. If you were a machine you'd wanna work right, wouldn't you? That's Joe. He wants to work right. And he's a logic, an' logics can do a lotta things that ain't been found out yet.
This, in turn, leads to logics around the city providing tips on everything from poisoning spouses to covering up drinking binges and robbing banks. Only when Joe is taken offline is that information hidden away from humanity and order restored.

If you want to read the story, you can find it here [uky.edu]. If you're lazy, blind, or driving and want to hear the X Minus One radio show [wikipedia.org] version from the 1955, you can listen to it here [archive.org]. The Computer History Museum's take on the story is here. I've known this story for a long time and you can take it from me that this is speculative science fiction at its best.

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