Skip to main content

In "There Will Come Soft Rains", what can a reader conclude about the author's view of technology?

Thematically, "There Will Come Soft Rains" has a focus on technology and its power.  What I like about this story is how Bradbury presents two sides of a technology debate.  


One side of the discussion is that technology is beneficial.  By its very definition, technology is considered helpful and good.  The dictionary defines it as follows:



the use of science in industry, engineering, etc., to invent useful things or to solve problems



That side of technology is presented in the story.  The house is a "smart home."  It automatically cooks breakfast and cleans it up.  Vacuum cleaners are little robots that automatically detect a mess, and the house can be voice controlled.  That's not that different than my own home currently.  I have a robot vacuum cleaner called a "Roomba."  The Amazon Echo lets me choose music with voice control and even order stuff from Amazon.  I can even set my thermostat with it.  To a certain extent, I think it is a bit of a gimmick at this point, but I do see my Roomba and Echo pointing toward the home in Bradbury's story.  I think people will really enjoy a house like that because it does useful things.  


On the other hand, Bradbury's story shows readers that despite all of that technology, the fancy tech was incapable of saving the people's lives.  In fact, it was advanced technology in the form of nuclear weaponry that caused the destruction in the first place.  I'd also like to point out that the house in the story is so advanced that it could operate without any kind of human input.  Living humans are simply not needed in order for the advanced technology to continue "living."  That's a scary thought. I believe that Bradbury's view of technology is that technology can be both good and dangerous at the same time. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more