Word Processor of the Gods

The 1980s saw an unprecedented rise in technology as mobile phones from Motorola, personal computers, the Internet, and much more became commercially available for the first time. The first mobile phone call was recorded in 1983, the same year that “Word Processor of the Gods” was published. More and more technological advances were integrated into the daily life of the average consumer. Personal computers, frequently referred to as word processors, also experienced explosive growth, transitioning from machines for specialists and programmers to consumer products. The IBM PC, launched in 1981, became the dominant computer for professional users.

With this phenomenon came the philosophical debate about the uses, power, consequences, and limitations of technology. Many critics warned of a society becoming a slave to technology and its potential ability to change the fate of the human race. Cyberpunk emerged as a genre in 1982, a subgenre of dystopian science fiction that juxtaposes high-tech societies with devalued human life. There were also technological optimists, who believed that the benefits of technology outweighed the cons. This duality is captured in the ads for the first Macintosh computers with the slogan “[Y]ou’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984,” referring to George Orwell’s novel about a dystopia characterized by mass media and surveillance technology (Johnson, Bobbie “Apple’s Macintosh, 25 years on” The Guardian, 23 Jan 2009). Stephen King explores these ideas in his story as well, contrasting Richard’s pleasure over getting his ideal life with the disturbing idea of erasing one’s family.

Furthermore, the 1980s also experienced rising tensions in the Cold War between The United States and the Soviet Union. The 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative, also referred to as the “Star Wars program” by critics, was a proposed missile defense system designed to protect the United States from intercontinental ballistic missiles and other weapons of mass destruction. This controversial proposal was heavily scrutinized by those who claimed that it would lead to and accelerate a global arms race and destabilize the already fragile tensions with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Similar to the tech boom, Cold War tensions gave rise to the nuclear apocalypse subgenre of science fiction. Some works, like the Terminator franchise, blend these two fears as advanced artificial intelligence sparks a nuclear war between the US and Russia.

All of these factors, in addition to the rise in materialism and consumer culture afforded by this technological boom, influenced King and his works. “Word Processor of the Gods” deals with themes of the power of technology, greed, and the potentially devastating consequences when power lands in human hands. These themes and meditations on technology have featured in King’s stories for the past 40 years, appearing in his magnum opus Dark Tower series, The Running Man (1982), and Cell (2006).