Computer technology and scientific advances are often treated in speculative ways in fiction, with authors imagining various possible outcomes of our use and/or abuse of technology.
 
Computers may have taken the place of traditional human or animal companions in some cases, as virtual reality becomes a realm where fictional characters can explore their loneliness, alienation and search for identity. In other cases, science fantasy novels may feature technology as a tool for daily life without it being the main theme of the book or displacing the traditional elements of fantasy stories.

In more optimistic works, computers facilitate communication in our world or with other dimensions. Dystopian works largely portray computers as tools in the hands of oppressive rulers and foresee technopolies that attack individuality by limiting freedom, in the severest cases at a genetic level, as seen in dystopian biopunk works.

art © Alan Rabinowitz Fantasy Art & Illustration.