History Main / WetwareCPU

* The word Computer used to mean a human being whose job was to compute. The earliest recorded use of the term is from the 17th century; {{Wiki/Wikipedia}} has an article [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_computer here]].

Digital processing technology has come a long way from the days of mechanical relays. Transistors, those magical little things that make modern computers tick, have gotten so small we can measure their size in individual atoms -- small enough that we can cram a ''lot'' of them even in devices that fit in the palm of your hand. But despite our best advances, Father Science's thinking machines are still leagues behind those of Mother Nature. Even as flash memory and transistor technologies are [[https://www.cnet.com/news/moores-law-is-dead-nvidias-ceo-jensen-huang-says-at-ces-2019/ close to reaching their absolute limit]], the human brain still casually humiliates our most cutting-edge devices with its immunity to {{EMP}}s, its absurdly low 20 watt power consumption and its storage space [[https://www.livescience.com/53751-brain-could-store-internet.html large enough to hold the entire internet.]] But what if we told you there's a way to take a shortcut past the constraints of electronic computing and hold unimaginable processing power at your fingertips? You can do all of that and more with the ''Wetware CPU...'' at least as far as ScienceFiction is concerned.

** From the Orange Catholic Bible: [[ObstructiveCodeOfConduct "Thou shalt not make a machine in the image of a human mind"]]. Leading to mentats, which are essentially humans trained to think like supercomputers. (So instead, a human in the image of a machine's mind) Even Paul has similar conditioning.

** This is also the reason that [[SpiceOfLife spice]] is so incredibly valuable. The Corrino empire could probably survive without its Spice addicted nobles, but the substance is vital to the [[BodyHorror transformation]] of normal human beings into Navigators and their maintenance. [[spoiler:It becomes less so during the Scattering, when machines are developed that replace Navigators.]]

** The Aurora Units from ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption''. Unfortunately, being part biological leaves them wide open to [[TheCorruption Phazon]]...
** Not to mention their spiritual predecessor Mother Brain herself, who was originally a [[{{Precursors}} Chozo]] supercomputer before turning against them to side with the SpacePirates.

** Moya's son Talyn has the much smaller "Hand of Friendship" implant that can attach to a humanoid's neck instead of premanently fusing to the ship. This allows his captain greater independence than a Pilot, but Talyn proves even more willing to disobey instructions than his mother. In season three Stark discovers that Talyn still has a vestigial Pilot den despite the Peacekeeprs' attempts to "breed out" the need for it. Stark uses the partially formed den to temporarily bond with the ship and steer him out of danger.

** Epsilon III - the planet which the B5 station orbits - houses a technologically advanced installation called the Great Machine which required a living being to act as a central processing unit.
** Shadow starships all used captured lesser races members as pilots fused with the hull. Which enables them to be disabled by telepaths.

*** The Lobotomites, also from ''Old World Blues'', are an [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of this. They were humans that got abducted by the Think Tank and suffered an experiment which replaced their brains with artificial mock-ups, essentially making them into robots with an "organic hardware".

*** The Lobotomites, also from ''Old World Blues'', are a [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of this. They were humans that got abducted by the Think Tank and suffered an experiment which replaced their brains with artificial mock-ups, essentially making them into robots with an "organic hardware".

* In ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'', the Cylons' ships -- or at least their FTL drives -- are controlled by "hybrids", human-looking women who lie in a tub full of goo hooked up to cables that look a lot like the ones in ''The Matrix''; ''Razor'' establishes that they were created by [[spoiler:experiments involving vivisected humans]]. The hybrid constantly babbles a stream of partly-technical, partly-prophetic-sounding, partly-nonsense words, but doesn't seem conscious in any real sense most of the time. When the Cylons give the order to make an FTL jump, the hybrid gasps "Jump" orgasmically as the ship does so. When such an order is about to be given at a very significant moment:

* Used extensively in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', in which non-sentient servitors (robots with human brains for CPU) are very common, and used as from cleaning automata to combat drones to spaceship operation aides. Also, some ship captains are permanently wired into their vessels. In the novel ''Storm of Iron'', there is a tech-priest who has discarded everything but his brain and wired himself into the main computer in the fortress he commands. The SpaceMarine Dreadnoughts, fighting machines piloted by mortally wounded super soldiers permanently encased in a life support sarcophagus might also count.

* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', the Shadow starships all used captured lesser races members as pilots fused with the hull. Which enables them to be disabled by telepaths.

* In the various ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games there are "Robobrains", basically a brain in a jar connected to a robot body. According to ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' they come from all sorts of sources, from monkeys to prisoners of war. In 3, they have feminine voice synthesizers.
** The PlayerCharacter meets some [[BrainInAJar jars]] in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout Tactics|BrotherhoodOfSteel}}''... and may choose to join them.
*** Apparently, the designers of the Vaults figured that a pornstar's brain is a good choice to run a computer.

** ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' reveals [[spoiler: that the brains are from executed convicts, wiped and conditioned. Unfortunately, convicts weren't the most stable people to begin with, and the conditioning process didn't always work...]]

* While this trope usually revolves around using neural tissue as a processing unit, another possible way for this trope to come into play -- and possibly even become TruthInTelevision -- is through [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_computing DNA computing]]. In fact, DNA-based computers that can be reprogrammed [[https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/hardware/dna-computer-shows-programmable-chemical-machines-are-possible have already been successfully built]].

** There's another Dalek-aligned one in the classic series serial [[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E1RemembranceOfTheDaleks "Remembrance of the Daleks"]].
*** Explicitly stated that they chose a child because a child's imagination, fuelled with data from their battle computers, was the only thing irrational enough to break the stalemate against other Dalek battle computers.

* ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'' had an arc called "Professor Madblood and the Wetware Interface'', in which Madblood used Dave's brain to power a giant robot.

* In the ''Manga/{{Mahoromatic}}'' manga, the Keepers use [[spoiler: the brains of "scrapped" cyborgs for facility management. [[AndIMustScream Said brains are still conscious]].]]

* ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'' / Gunnm, being a futuristic cyberpunk depiction of society rife with cyborgs and body enhancement technology of all sorts, has [[spoiler: the Brain Incubator, made of the brains of the inhabitants of Tiphares/Zalem harvested when they undergo the initiation ceremony, giving them full citizenship rights - and a brain bio-chip.]]
* ''{{Anime/Betterman}}'' has Dual Kinds, who are a mix of this and LivingBattery; they both power and control the Neuronoid robots by combining their "neural energy" through the use of a mysterious substance known as Linker Gel. [[spoiler:The control systems of both Neuronoids and many of the autonomous mecha in the series play this straighter--the ubiquitous BlackBox computer systems all contain one [[MindHive or more]] harvested brains. Neuronoids in particular originally used [[HumanResources multiple human brains]], but this practice ceased because the resulting Neuronoids retained enough awareness to become sentient and autonomous, [[PragmaticVillainy so Mode Warp started using primate, dog, and dolphin brains instead]].]]

* In ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'', the titular character is a sort of spheric computer with a comatose, hairless man inside it. Near the end of the manga, [[spoiler: some SufficientlyAdvancedAliens claim that the man was just a ordinary human who was cloned to operate the sphere.]]

* The Marvel super-villain ComicBook/{{MODOK}} ([[FunWithAcronyms Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing]]) was originally titled MODOC (Mental Organism Designed Only for Computation) having been created to be the organic computer component necessary for AIM to create the original Cosmic Cube as only an organic mind could do the computations. The Supreme Intelligence of the Kree was originally created for the same purpose by incorporating the brains of the Kree's best scientists but refused and instead took over the Kree Empire.
* On a lighter note, Spider-Man villain Silvermane, himself a cyborg at the time, was once reduced to a head and then wired to a small toy car for extra mobility.

* The space-faring slavers from Creator/VernorVinge'''s ''Tatja Grimm's World'' kidnap people, remove their brains and then fit them to a computer that suppresses their personality without totally trashing their intellect, to form a useful WetwareCPU.

** This is also the reason that [[{{Phlebotinum}} spice]] is so incredibly valuable. The Corrino empire could probably survive without its Spice addicted nobles, but the substance is vital to the [[BodyHorror transformation]] of normal human beings into Navigators and their maintenance. [[spoiler:It becomes less so during the Scattering, when machines are developed that replace Navigators.]]

* Creator/LarryNiven's short story "Literature/BecalmedInHell" has the [[BrainInAJar brain jar]] of Eric Donovan[[note]]a shout-out to the classic science fiction/horror story Donovan's Brain[[/note]], who was mortally wounded in an accident, installed in a spaceship designed to explore Venus.

* The ScienceFiction young reader Soviet novel ''Экспедиция в преисподнюю'' ("Expedition into the Underworld"), written by the Creator/StrugatskyBrothers under a pseudonym, features these. [[SocialistRealism An evil capitalist businessman]] uses thousands of these aboard of his ship.

* In Asimov's short story ''The Monkey's Finger'', a capuchin monkey has his brain surgically altered to turn it into a computer capable of generating stories and books of the highest literary quality. The story deals far less with the bioethical and technological implications than [[MostWritersAreWriters how it will affect writers.]]

* Somtow Sucharitkul/S.P. Somtow's ''Inquest'' stories features multiple technologies for interstellar ships. One type uses "shipminds" which are ... harvested ... from sentient beings.

** The Daleks themselves are basically squid-like aliens from the planet Skaro who are permanently encased in a virtually indestructible [[StarWars R2-unit]].

*** The process of "cyber-conversion" (and the state of existing as a Cyberman) is so painful that they have to have all emotions and pain receptors turned off. A common way of defeating them in the revival is to find a way to turn their feelings (emotional and/or physical) back ''on'', which almost always leads to immediate Self-Termination.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin "The Deadly Assassin"]] reveals that the ''minds'' of dying Time Lords are transferred to "The Matrix" so as to forecast future developments. The principle's the same, but it's a lot less grisly. Somehow, the Master got hold of the Matrix and beamed one such development — the assassination of the retiring President — into the Doctor's mind...

** The people on Satellite Five in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E7TheLongGame "The Long Game"]] have ports in their heads to input information and process it. Adam, a temporary companion, gets one himself in an attempt to take detailed technical and historical data back to the "present" for personal financial gain, which is why the Doctor throws him out of the TARDIS. The Controller worked on the same principle, only that was her entire life.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E12BadWolf "Bad Wolf"]], the Daleks use one to control the operations of Satellite Five, installing her at [[PoweredByAForsakenChild five years old]].

* In ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' [[spoiler: people sent to "the Attic" have their brains networked to make Rossum's supercomputer.]]
* [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Pilot]] from ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' is symbiotically joined to Moya a [[LivingShip leviathan]]. While Pilot controls the crew's life support systems and pilots the ship, Moya is capable of moving on her own and can disregard Pilot's instructions if she has to.

* The much-reviled episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E1SpocksBrain Spock's Brain]]" of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.
** ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' had an automated space station that would rapidly repair ships for a fee in certain resources... And a hidden fee in kidnapping one of the passengers in an "accident" to use their brainpower to keep itself running.

* The Borg Queen in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' is one of these; not merely an ambassador like Locutus but a being that functions as the hub of the collective consciousness.
* ''Series/TotalRecall2070'': Alpha-class androids (still on the prototype stage) use cultivated neurons. Alpha technology is not yet fully understood, as android inspector Farve experienced weird "connections" with people under an Alpha MindControl implant.

* ''VideoGame/MapleStory'': [[MadScientist Gelimer]], who was always pretty evil, but in his attempt to use his airship, the Black Heaven, to [[spoiler:overwhelm Maple World with a special chemical that has a high mortality rate (and which zombifies the survivors)]], he needed a great [[PoweredByAForsakenChild power source]], AI, interface, and security system for such a gargantuan ship! So he resurrects [[spoiler:Lotus, a former commander of the [[BigBad Black Mage]]]], and presumably uses [[MindControlDevice mind control]] and enhancements via technology. [[ScaleOfScientificSins Notably, every single bit of this plan is most definitely morally wrong.]] Oh, and Orchid, Gelimer's superior and [[spoiler:Lotus' sister]], is clearly livid because of all this.
* ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' has the Protoss Dragoons and Immortals - the broken bodies and brains of half-dead soldiers, wired into walking tanks so that they can continue to fight.

** The Adjutant was one originally. Female human, head connected to various wires and bits of machinery, presumably to aid in briefing the player in missions. It has been retconned to be entirely robotic, probably to make the "[[BlackAndGrayMorality good guys]]" less squicky.

** ''Cataclysm'' reveals that the Bentusi are connected to their ships in a similar fashion. They seem to consider this a stage in a civilisation's development and collectively refer to races that have achieved this feat as "The Unbound". It's implied they helped out the Kushan due to Karan being newly Unbound herself.

* Sansha's Nation drones in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' are controlled by humans brainwashed and cyberneticaly-altered for that purpose.

** The Aurora Units from ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption''. Unfortunately, being part biological leaves them wide open to [[TheCorruption Phazon...]]

* In ''VideoGame/VegaStrike'' '{{verse}} "Pseudo-AI" is used for most tasks where a "true" AI would be too expensive and a simple computer isn't creative enough. "PAI Wetware" is one of legal goods, a thousand times or so cheaper than AI cores. The Rlaan as proponents of OrganicTechnology carry it further and creep out the humans by equipping [[AttackDrone armed drones]] with pet brains.
* The Strogg from ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' couple their computers with organic beings, including a [[HumanResources factory that mashes humans into Stroyent]] that has a creature's digestive system working as part of it and a gigantic brain with cybernetic implants in it as their main communication system processor. They're also fond of "Stroggifying" enemies in a method more brutal than the Borg, [[ViralTransformation implanting cybernetics]] via [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable surgery]] without any anesthetic whatsoever.
* CABAL the [[AIIsACrapshoot evil supercomputer]] from the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries'' apparently is the "Computer Assisted Biologically Augmented Lifeform"; it draws some processing power from human beings. At the end of ''Firestorm'' CABAL is [[spoiler: apparently keeping Kane alive]]. More specifically, the Biological Augmentation appears to consist of [[spoiler:a roomful of various people pluged into it. At the line "Our directives must be reassessed," Kane appears to have merged with CABAL]].

** One ending of the sequel involves this happening to [[spoiler:Everyone]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{XCOM 2}}'' it is revealed that [[spoiler:the Commander was being used as a living tactical processor by the aliens.]]

** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' reveals [[spoiler: that the brains are from executed convicts, wiped and conditioned. Unfortunately, convicts weren't the most stable people to begin with, and the conditioning process didn't always work...]]

** The same game reveals that [[spoiler:the Reapers are composed of organic biomass in a mechanical framework, and their periodic slaughter of all sentient life in the galaxy is actually their reproductive cycle.]]

* ''VideoGame/FrontMission1'' The fact that it happened to the [[spoiler: main character's fiancee]] is just salt in the wound.

* This is a vital part of creating a cyborg in ''VideoGame/SpaceStation13'', which becomes an extension of the AI by following [[ThreeLawsCompliant all of its rules,]] [[KillerRobot including the ones]] [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters the traitor uploads]].

* One of the boss battles in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 3}}'' is against Gigamind, a Maliwan AI that turns out to be a BrainInAJar piloting a robotic suit. Later in the game you encounter [[DegradedBoss weaker versions]] called [=NOGs=] which act as support units for Maliwan troops.

* The Heavy Vertical Tank, or HVT from ''[[VideoGame/SteelBattalion Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor]]'' uses what is called a Human Processing Unit. Within the universe, an outbreak of silicon-eating bacteria has caused what is called the "Data Crash" and human technology is set back into the [=1940s-1950s=] analog technology. However, the so-called [=HPUs=] used within HVT units allow much faster processing and powering of the complex systems within it. While normal Vertical Tanks require a crew of at least four (Commander/Gunner, Engineer, Radio Operator, and Loader), the HVT requires only one, as its onboard machinery uses the Processing Units to make its calculation for it. However, the system has its horrific side-effect: the humans used as [=HPUs=] are basically discarded once it has reached a certain limit of effectiveness and it is implied that HVT units go through these Human Processors like a cannon goes through ammunition. It also provides a justification on why the United People (essentially the [[UnitedNationsIsASuperpower United Nations]] under [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld Chinese Management]]) seems excessively cruel to the conquered; they are abducting people left, right, and center to forcibly use them as [=HPUs=]. By the way, the people who were used and discarded as said [=HPUs=]? They're not dead; [[FateWorseThanDeath they're catatonic, with no clear sign if they can make a recovery, if at all possible]].
* Xenon's Super Bio Mech computer from ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers Space Quest IV]]''.
* The [[SpiderTank Brainwalkers]] from ''VideoGame/Strider2014'' use human brains as control units. Following the failure of initial versions, which were incapable of thinking strategically during battle, [[MadScientist Professor Schlange]] decided to use human brains to run the robot's decision-making systems and to push its performance to its maximum. From where does he gets these brains? From citizens captured attempting to escape Kazakh City (or atleast from those not killed trying to). What's even worse? These machines wear down the brains very quickly, and so ''[[NightmareFuel they must be constantly replaced with new ones]]''.

* Cyborgs and the AI in ''VideoGame/SpaceStation13'' use a human brain plugged into a mind/machine interface as their core processor.
* One of the biggest plot twists in ''VideoGame/LuminousAvengerIX'' is the truth behind [[spoiler:the Butterfly Effect: It's the brain of Copen's younger sister Mytyl, stripped of her body decades ago and hooked up to a machine to be used as a surrogate Muse. The goal of Copen's entire journey is to [[MercyKill end her suffering.]]]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Factorio}}'' the recipe for building the [[SpiderTank Spidertron]] requires a fish. Since the model for a destroyed Spidertron shows a fish flopping around in it the implication is that the fish is being used to control the Spidertron.

* Carbon computers in ''Webcomic/AmongTheChosen'' are carried by female, {{transhuman}} hosts by means of artificial pregnancy. It is not clear whether the computers have a personality of their own or is an extenuation of their host.

* In ''Webcomic/SequentialArt'' [[MegaCorp Quinten]] R&D has four "organic processors". Unusual in that they aren't BrainInAJar type, but LittleBitBeastly squirrel girls with radio-implants linking them into HiveMind called "Think Tank". Also, this provides some sort of {{Cyberspace}} interface with true computer AI. They still have free will, if somewhat brainwashed.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', Agatha and crew manage to stop a malicious, sentient runaway train - but [[spoiler: Brother Ulm]] ends up at death's door. They end up saving him by repurposing his brain as the "autopilot" of their new train. He's surprisingly okay with the arrangement. In fact, they offer him the option to be reinstalled in a humanoid body later and he declines.

* In the Wiki/SCPFoundation wiki, [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-763 SCP-763:]] a huge patch of MeatMoss supporting dozens of networked human brains. It's [[HumanResources looking for more]].

* In the sci-fi roleplaying site Star Army, due to their more primitive technology, the race known as "Gartagens" [[http://stararmy.com/wiki/doku.php?id=gartagens:computer_technology use these]] as the AI networks of their spaceships. Since they're depicted as OCD compared to humans, this actually does put them on an almost equal AI footing with the other races of the setting.

* Kiva Andru from ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' has a bionic plug port on the back of her skull, which she used to interface her mecha, but she hasn't used it due to MEGAS being heavily modified with a car chasis. [[spoiler:Her [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/megasxlr/images/5/5c/Evil_Kiva.png/revision/latest?cb=20170421232543 alternate universe counterpart]], however, has further modified her port to accomadate a cable, along with the left side of her face being robotic]].

* Moloch, from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', who was a demon whose essence was put first into the Internet and then into a robot body.

Digital processing technology has come a long way from the days of mechanical relays. Transistors, those magical little things that make modern computers tick, have gotten so small we can measure their size in individual atoms -- small enough that we can cram a ''lot'' of them even in devices that fit in the palm of your hand. But despite our best advances, Father Science's thinking machines are still leagues behind those of Mother Nature. Even as flash memory and transistor technologies are [[https://www.cnet.com/news/moores-law-is-dead-nvidias-ceo-jensen-huang-says-at-ces-2019/ close to reaching their absolute limit]], the human brain still casually humiliates our most cutting-edge devices with its immunity to {{EMP}}s, its absurdly low 20 watt power consumption and its storage space [[https://www.livescience.com/53751-brain-could-store-internet.html large enough to hold the entire internet]]. But what if we told you there's a way to take a shortcut past the constraints of electronic computing and hold unimaginable processing power at your fingertips? You can do all of that and more with the ''Wetware CPU...'' at least as far as ScienceFiction is concerned.

* The first two games in ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'' series utilize electronic "[=BioChips=]" which can be collected to employ certain functions. The second game goes on to explain that the "wetware" part is composed of "neuro-synaptic polymer gel, and Arthur also turns out to the be prototype of this technology in one of the time zones you visit.