If you'd rather have a PDF This story was recommended to me and I think it is interesting not just for its story of humanity's reliance on machines, but for predictions of future technology. On...
This story was recommended to me and I think it is interesting not just for its story of humanity's reliance on machines, but for predictions of future technology. On the first page alone there's electronic music, an electronic armchair, video calls (along with Do Not Disturb) and the title of the chapter tells you about an airship.
I have not finished it yet but I'm hopeful other folks will read it too (and if we hate it in the end that can be just as interesting.
Just finished it - I found it apt and interesting, but what really shocked me was when I finished it, and saw that it was published in .... 1909??? I guess I scrolled past the header and just...
Just finished it - I found it apt and interesting, but what really shocked me was when I finished it, and saw that it was published in .... 1909??? I guess I scrolled past the header and just jumped into the story, missing that little tidbit.
Thinking about that, I'm reminded of the foreword to Neuromancer by William Gibson- in it, he talks about how when he tried to predict around technologies he understood (payphones, for example), his fiction aged horribly, and when he tried to predict around technologies for which he had little to no basis in reality (virtual reality I guess?) they ended up being a lot more timeless. I guess human nature is a lot more consistent than any technology. The fact that someone could write about being coddled into infant-like complacency more than 100 years ago and feel plausible now makes me wonder if it's something innate to human nature, to seek comfort to the point of self destruction?
In short, I enjoyed the story but it was bleak and makes me worried for humanity :(
My hope is that it's more that these fears are fairly innate to humanity, and thus come out in our art, whether in this story or in Wall-E and that it says more about our fears than our actual...
My hope is that it's more that these fears are fairly innate to humanity, and thus come out in our art, whether in this story or in Wall-E and that it says more about our fears than our actual trajectory as a species.
If you'd rather have a PDF
This story was recommended to me and I think it is interesting not just for its story of humanity's reliance on machines, but for predictions of future technology. On the first page alone there's electronic music, an electronic armchair, video calls (along with Do Not Disturb) and the title of the chapter tells you about an airship.
I have not finished it yet but I'm hopeful other folks will read it too (and if we hate it in the end that can be just as interesting.
Just finished it - I found it apt and interesting, but what really shocked me was when I finished it, and saw that it was published in .... 1909??? I guess I scrolled past the header and just jumped into the story, missing that little tidbit.
Thinking about that, I'm reminded of the foreword to Neuromancer by William Gibson- in it, he talks about how when he tried to predict around technologies he understood (payphones, for example), his fiction aged horribly, and when he tried to predict around technologies for which he had little to no basis in reality (virtual reality I guess?) they ended up being a lot more timeless. I guess human nature is a lot more consistent than any technology. The fact that someone could write about being coddled into infant-like complacency more than 100 years ago and feel plausible now makes me wonder if it's something innate to human nature, to seek comfort to the point of self destruction?
In short, I enjoyed the story but it was bleak and makes me worried for humanity :(
My hope is that it's more that these fears are fairly innate to humanity, and thus come out in our art, whether in this story or in Wall-E and that it says more about our fears than our actual trajectory as a species.