Franchise by Isaac Asimov:
Science Fiction Inventions, Technology and Ideas

"It was a frightening thing to happen to a person; the responsibility was just too great. But Norman Muller couldn’t back out. Multivac had chosen him, and the entire nation waited . . ."


('Franchise' by Isaac Asimov)

In the story, the United States has become an "electronic democracy" where the computer Multivac selects a single person to answer a set of questions. Multivac uses the answers and other data to determine what the results of an election would be, avoiding the need for an actual election to be held.

Select an invention:

Electronic Voting
A system of elections that used the responses of a statistically average voter.

Interviewed by a Computer
An interview conducted by a computer with a person.

Multivac
A computer with millions of facts.

 

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Science Fiction
in the News

Russians Create Robot Tank Platoons
re: Philip Nowlan w/D. Calkins
(8/15/2025)

3D-Printed Exoskeleton Learns From Your Hand
re: Fritz Leiber
(8/13/2025)

Smartwatch Powered By Slime Mold
re: Philip K. Dick
(7/11/2025)

Unmanned Boats Attack At Sea
re: Ray Naylor
(7/9/2025)

Carpentopod Walking Table
re: Terry Pratchett
(7/7/2025)

Iron Drone Raider Counter-UAV Operations
re: Robert Sheckley
(7/5/2025)

SpaceX Rocket Shuttle Point-To-Point On Earth
re: Robert Heinlein
(7/3/2025)

Quaise Uses Beams Of Energy To Dig Geothermal Wells
re: Frank Stockton
(7/1/2025)

Robots Repair And Modify Themselves
re: Harry Harrison
(6/29/2025)

Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers
re: Philip K Dick
(6/27/2025)

Robot Janitors Get To Work
re: Philip K. Dick
(6/25/2025)

Robots Learn To Install Charged Batteries Into Themselves
re: Not known.
(6/23/2025)

Robot Rabbits Entice Pythons
re: JW Groves
(6/21/2025)

LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
re: Philip K. Dick
(6/19/2025)

More SF in the News

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