Wetware, also known as liveware or meatware, is a term generally used to refer to a person operating a computer. It refers to human beings (programmers, operators, administrators) attached to a computer system, as opposed to the system s Computer hardware or Computer software. In this context the term is frequently used in humorous contexts; for example, in the frequently wry humour of technical support staff, a wetware-related problem is a (semi)polite euphemism for user error.

This term also came in use in recent years in the linking up of organic nervous tissue with computer hardware, and training of such tissue to realize truly intelligent computers.

The term is probably drawn from the novels of , published in Psychological Review, pages 63-97.

The reason why a person can be described as ware is derived from the relationship between hardware and software. Computer equipment, or hardware, cannot be useful without programs to run, and those programs, or software, are useless without something to carry out their instructions. Similarly, even if computer hardware and software exist together, neither of them can do anything without an operator. Therefore a human being, or wetware, is an essential element of computing. The field of artificial intelligence complicates the concept of wetware, since in that case, the hardware/software would be acting on its own.

Because of the inherent limitations of wetware memory, compared to computers, systems such as the Domain Name System have been created.

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