Sony's SMC-70, released in 1982, was an distinctive early desktop computer featuring a unique modular expansion system using mechanical connectors instead of traditional bus-based cards. The machine offered advanced features for its time, including 16-color graphics, sound capability, and 3.5-inch floppy drives, though it failed to achieve commercial success despite these innovations.
Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question," first published in 1956, follows humanity's evolution across galaxies over trillions of years, centering on a wager about whether a supercomputer called Multivac can answer a specific question. The story explores themes of human consciousness merging into a collective entity and culminates with an ancient question that even the godlike computer AC cannot resolve.