The Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper

[yukamichi]

Forty years ago, when the war between the Earth Federation and the System States Alliance ended, the Federation hastily abandoned their staging base on the planet Poictesme. Ever since, the people of the planet have made do by salvaging old military equipment and earning meagre profits on locally-produced brandy and tobacco. Local legend tells of a military supercomputer named Merlin that had once existed on the planet, and though nobody has ever found a trace of its existence, the rumors have grown to a near religious level of fervour.

One local boy heads off to Earth to get an education in computing and to learn everything he can about the location of Merlin; when he returns years later, he brings with him plenty of information of undiscovered military sites ripe for salvage, but nothing about Merlin. From all he's learned, the computer doesn't and has never existed; but the people of Poictesme will never accept that, even while the information he acquired kicks off a gold rush that promises to lift the faltering backwater planet out of its decades of poverty and depression.

If you've ever seen the TV show The Curse of Oak Island, this book is basically that: a methodical play-by-play of men with big dreams setting up big enterprises and ambitious engineering projects, set against the backdrop of an urban legend that any sane man would have to be desperate to believe. Poictesme's economic decline has produced many desperate men.

There's a dynamic tapestry of personalities and interests at play here: some are true believers in Merlin and the prosperity it will bring; others are more concerned with establishing their own space trade to share in the profits that are currently eaten up by merchants; useless government bureaucrats who vacillate between wanting to exploit Merlin and fearing that it will make them obsolete; soldiers for whom the war in their heads never really ended; level-headed sceptics aghast at everyone's faith in an urban legend (a category which mostly just consists of two of the three named female characters, who spend most of their time off-screen); and plenty of shifty opportunists who just want to share in whatever offers them the most wealth. As Merlin Fever reaches its peak, the various interests at play plunge the planet into violence and chaos, even as its economic prospects should be shining brighter and brighter.

It's hard not to compare the events of the story to the current environment of "AI" hype, people chasing wild fantasies about magic computers that will replace our governments, tell us the secrets of God and the universe, and usher in an era of whatever that particular individual believer imagines is best in the world. On the other hand, the story is told from the point of view of ruthless pragmatists and materialists who can't be bothered with the flighty idealism of their peers, except to try and channel it into ends that will, hopefully, give everyone what they ultimately wish the mythical computer could do for them.