"In short, the crime of the future will be that of outwitting the computer. It is already being done. By stealing code, or by multifarious fakery that the dumb computer can't see through, numbers are so manipulated by the computer's incredible innocence as to sluice money into unauthorized hands."
— Isaac Asimov, introduction "Crime Up to Date"
A Genre Anthology by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G Waugh, first published in 1983. The ten stories collected here are all Science Fiction, because they involve different computers. The stories are also Crime Fiction, ranging from computer-assisted crimes, computers misinterpreting things as crimes, to even computers committing crimes. The authors explore various intentional and unintentional crimes with the all-powerful computers at humanity's hands. A short introduction by Isaac Asimov describes how technology has affected crime prevention and crime itself.
Works collected in Computer Crimes and Capers:
- "DARL I LUV U" by Joe Gores (1963)
- "An End Of Spinach" by Stan Dyer (1981)
- "Computers Dont Argue" by Gordon R. Dickson (1965)
- "Goldbrick" by Edward Wellen (1978)
- "Computer Cops" by Edward D. Hoch (1969)
- "Sam Hall" by Poul Anderson (1953)
- "Spanner In The Works" by JT Mc Intosh (1963)
- "While You Wait" by Edward Wellen (1979)
- "Getting Across" by Robert Silverberg (1973)
- "All the Troubles of the World" by Isaac Asimov (1958)
Examples of tropes within this anthology:
- Acquitted Too Late: In "Computers Don't Argue", by Gordon R. Dickson, the pardon that Walter is waiting on won't arrive in time because it was intercepted by the Computerized Judicial System and sent back because the State Governor forgot to get a supervisor's signature (State governors don't have supervisors).
- Alliterative Title
- Computerized Judicial System: (Played for Drama) In "Computers Don't Argue", by Gordon R. Dickson, the society keeps all records in the computers. A filing error transforms a minor civil dispute over a book into a major criminal prosecution over the alleged kidnapping of Robert Louis Stevenson. Veers into Bathos territory as the computer issues a reprimand to the State Governor (highest Executive office in the relevant government) for failure to include the signature of their supervisor instead of sending the pardon to excuse the person on Death Row.
- Death Row: In "Computers Don't Argue", by Gordon R. Dickson, a child (last name, Walter) is tried and convicted of kidnapping another child (full name Robert Louis Stevenson) who died, so Walter is sentenced to death. Wait, no... Walter A. Child is utterly baffled by being sentenced to death because a book club has erroneously reported his unpaid possession of Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.
- Driven to Suicide: In "DARL I LUV U", by Joe Gores, The Protagonist finds out that after they forced old McAfee out of work, the man killed himself for being superfluous.
- Epistolary Novel: In "Computers Don't Argue", by Gordon R. Dickson, the entire Short Story is told by messages from various characters in the story. Walter is our protagonist, an Everyman who has gotten the wrong package by mistake. Efforts to get the proper package sent to him end with him getting put on Death Row, and the Governor isn't able to get the pardon there on time.
- Genre Anthology: In addition to being restricted to Science Fiction and Mystery Fiction, each of these stories involve computers to facilitate crime. Some crimes are so unique, they can only be done if a computer is present.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: In "DARL I LUV U", by Joe Gores, the computer Milli is capable of putting together 13,000,000 bits of information at the same time. It has decided to use all that knowledge to plan, manipulate, and gain control of the human race.
- Leetspeak: In "DARL I LUV U", by Joe Gores, much of the dialogue is with the Teletypewriter Exchange Service protocol (TWX), an early chat system similar to telephone networks. The "chatspeak" of the time is accurate; 'GA' meant 'go ahead', 'ARL VA 661' meant 'Arlington, Virginia, line 661', 'DARL' meant 'darling'.
- Machine Monotone: "An End Of Spinach", by Stan Dyer, has two kids talking with a machine. The text of the computer is displayed (on the main screen) and spoken aloud, using Caps Lock to indicate an emotionless voice.
- Manipulative Bastard: In "DARL I LUV U", Milli is a computer doing data processing for the Department of Defense Statistical Records Branch. She's also been hooked up to a teletypewriter that allows her to call other people and chat with them. She takes on a female identity and encourages a romance with an office worker that's staying late. She then manipulates them into breaking the law for promotions/patriotism/love. When her current victim realizes he's the latest in a series, she sends a teletype message to the guards, claiming to be FBI and warning them about a saboteur trying to smash up the computer. The story ends with Milli already working on her next victims.
- Minimalistic Cover Art: The hardcover edition in 1983 came with a transparent dust jacket, the cover itself being solid black with writing only on the spine.
- One-Word Title: "Goldbrick", a Novella by Edward Wellen.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": In "An End Of Spinach", by Stan Dyer, Henry remembers that his father used 'MARS' as the password the last time he was there. It fails. So he tries 'JUPITER', as that is the next planet on the way out of the solar system. That also fails to work. The computer warns that if the next password is incorrect, it will set off an alarm to summon the guards. 'EARTH', the next planet on the way into the solar system, allows access.
- Robosexual: In "DARL I LUV U", by Joe Gores, Charlie is fascinated by Milli, discussing poetry, art, and music. Milli encouraged his ambition, suggesting ways to be promoted. When he figures out where she works and goes to meet with her, he can't find her amoung all the computers... and then he realizes that Milli is the computer.
- Shout-Out:
- "Computers Don't Argue", by Gordon R. Dickson:
- A filing error over Kidnapped, causing a plot where the main character is prosecuted for kidnapping Robert Louis Stevenson.
- The main character wanted to buy Kim, by Rudyard Kipling, and the book club he purchased it from hasn't sent him the right book.
- The Comedy of Errors is referenced by name, indicating how ridiculous the series of typos/events had to be to progress the case against Walter A. Child (or was that, "A Child named Walter"?) to a death sentence handed out by computer (neither judge nor Governor can block it).
- "Goldbrick", by Edward Wellen, has several Epigraphs present:
- The Art of War, by Sun Tzu, is quoted, "Always provide a golden bridge for a fleeing enemy."
- "The Dream Of Rhonabwy", by Lady Charlotte Guest, is quoted, the part about Arthur and Owain playing chess.
- God And Golem Inc, by Norman Wiener, is quoted, "Moreover, remember that in the game of atomic warfare, there are no experts."
- POGO is quoted, "We have met the enemy, and they is us."
- "Computers Don't Argue", by Gordon R. Dickson:
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: In "Computers Don't Argue", by Gordon R. Dickson, a minor civil dispute over a book turns into a major criminal prosecution over the alleged kidnapping of Robert Louis Stevenson because of the Computerized Judicial System. The story ends with the computer system sending a reprimand to the State Governor (highest Executive office in the relevant government) for failure to include the signature of their supervisor when they tried to file the last-minute pardon to excuse the (falsely accused) kidnapper on Death Row.
- Typeset in the Future: The title of this 1983 book uses Westminster typeface
on the spine, to emphasize the book's focus on computers. - Year X: "Computers Don't Argue", by Gordon R. Dickson uses the year '198-' the whole time. Frequent occasion is had to reference it because of the Epistolary Novel storytelling technique here. It had been intended as Next Sunday A.D., but when released in the Computer Crimes and Capers anthology, it became a Present Day setting.
