Wellington

:This article is about a computer. It does not cover the city of Wellington, located in New Zealand.
The Wellington was a British supercomputer developed by Apricot Computers in the mid-21st century for governmental use. It was regularly used to analyze complex mathematical and scientific data. Later during the European Wars it also saw use for decrypting enemy messages and to act as an impartial judge for which British parliamentary constituencies would be contested at a time.
The main processing units of Wellington did not survive the post-War era of waiting out the radiation, as the bunker, it shared with the British government and the royal family ultimately did not have adequate stocks of spare parts. However, its main memory banks were successfully retained, and the knowledge held within them was instrumental during the time in which the post-War Kingdom of England consolidated herself in Britain.
== History ==
Wellington was not the first supercomputer the British government used. It had been preceded by Turing and Bowden, both named after notable British pioneers of cybernetics (Alan Turing and B. V. Bowden, respectively) from the 20th century. However, as time went on, it became clear that a more modern device was needed.
The government announced it would begin reviewing offers for a state-of-the-art supercomputer from all major British computer companies in 2050. The design by Apricot Computers was chosen in early 2051, and assembly began later that year. In March 2052, the computer was fully in operation in a bunker in Corsham, Wiltshire. It was named after Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington.
During the European-Middle Eastern War from 2052 to 2060 and the European Wars from 2060 onwards, Wellington was often fed information about enemy troop movements and intercepted encrypted enemy messages. It then did its best at decrypting the information and helping British forces emerge victoriously.
=== "Impartial" judge for elections ===
With the war with Germany in full swing in the 2060's and 2070's and with the United Kingdom being subjected to constant bombing raids, it was not possible to hold general elections in the United Kingdom. The governments of Evan Cameron and Henry Daniel McCarthy could thus stay in power with seemingly no end in sight. A plan was eventually hatched by the MI5 to instead hold a series of by-elections in the country. These by-elections would give the populace at least a superficial amount of control over political matters.
The issue was not without problems, however, as there would be little to no point in holding mandatory by-elections in constituencies that were not competitive, as in that case, the population would likely view the by-election as pointless. The government thus once again turned to Wellington. The computer was fed huge amounts of polling data and other information about all constituencies and their representatives in the country. It was then asked to identify the constituencies in which
* it would be most beneficial to hold a by-election overall
* it was likely that an incumbent would be unseated
** but it would be unlikely that the overall number of MP's from each party would change
* the incumbent Member of Parliament was not a significant figure
* the size of the electorate was as large as possible
Wellington duly analyzed the data and identified a number of suitable constituencies in the country.
The first elections were held within sixty days of the analysis being done. It soon became a perverse tradition of holding a number of by-elections in the country at the same time once every year, each time with consultation from Wellington to prevent any actual shifts in power. The exact means of how Wellington was instructed, as well as the actual reason for the practice, were kept from the general public.
=== Tentative successor ===
Before the Great War, the British government was in talks with Apricot for the development and construction of a successor for Wellington. It was tentatively named Wolseley, after the 19th century British Army general Garnet Wolseley. The plan never came to fruition due to the outbreak of the Great War on October 23, 2077.
=== "Death" ===
While the bunker in which Wellington and its handlers were housed in had a supply of spare parts, the rate in which Wellington would consume them was underestimated – the machine was nearly thirty years old at the time of the Great War and obviously past its prime. Diligent specialists could extend its usability considerably, but they could still only delay the inevitable.
On April 7, 2086, Wellington suffered a power surge, which destroyed several of its processing components. The computer was left completely crippled, and after consulting with the Prime Minister and Queen Mary III, the Minister of Education and Science turned Wellington's master power switch off for the final time. The technicians responsible for operating Wellington were instructed to switch their attention to preserving the knowledge held in its memory banks instead.
== Capabilities ==
Unlike the American ZAX computer systems, Wellington never achieved the status of a proper artificial intelligence. It was capable of conversing with a user on a rudimentary level, but it was incapable of acting outside its programming.
In 2061, Wellington successfully defeated Bertram Burgoyne, the reigning British chess champion, in a series of matches. The event was broadcast live on the British Broadcasting Corporation radio and television channels and attracted wide publicity.
Category:Technology