Computer Fiction: 'A Logic Named Joe' Towards Investigating the Importance of Science Fiction in the Historical Development of Computing

摘要

The bulk of Science Fiction (SF) has not predicted the most influential computer technologies of the late 20th century. This paper begins with an exception entitled "A Logic Named Joe" and its accurate description of the contemporary environment of PCs and the World Wide Web. It then proposes the possible historical and cultural value of SF in techno-scientific development -more specifically computer development - in both the U.S. and Finland, and argues that social science approaches to understanding technoscience should take SF into account when describing those communities of practice.