There Will Come Soft Rains: The Looming Threat of Nuclear Warfare and the Ever Present Reality of a Technological Takeover
In Ray Bradbury's short story There Will Come Soft Rains, based on the poem of the same name by Sara Teasdale, we see a post-apocalyptic setting, where all that is left in the city we are set in, is one technologically advanced house, maintained by robotic systems, continually running every day, even while the house's inhabitants are long gone. While this short story was published originally in 1950, it details a not so far away future, in the year 2026, where humanity has been wiped out to our knowledge, and all that is left is automated machines. This comes at the start of the Cold War, where the Soviet Union and the United States were both in competition to have the most nuclear weapons stockpiled and use them to intimidate one another.
This is truly a testament to the time period it was published in, but the ever-looming presence of nuclear warfare is massively present in our modern society today. To this day even, the United States and Russia are the number one holders of nuclear weaponry, and basically could decide the fate of the world in one day. The Bradbury story imagines this happening and shows a scary picture of what our reality may be if that ever occurs. I feel that maybe this story was proper for the time period being scared of the Soviet Union, but looking back at it now, the feelings are still there.
I will say however, that this story does believe, as many people in the past did, that by the year 2000, we would be wildly futuristic, and fully autonomous. I do agree that we are getting there in some ways, especially with the recent developments in artificial intelligence technologies, but not quite where Bradbury had expected for the general time period we are in now. If anything, we may be further away from the autonomous intelligence than the nuclear warfare, as I know I wouldn't want my life to be fully automized by robots whatsoever, but maybe someday people will want that, and this story could be even closer to reality than it already is.
If one is to use this story as a look back into the past to understand the ideas society had on what life would be like in the future, I would tell them this is a very accurate depiction of what it would be like, but in a limited aspect, as we are not all gone, we are not all autonomous robots, but that idea, that narrative, might, but hopefully not, become a reality for us all.
Hi Knox, I really like how you tied "There Will Be Soft Rains" to historical and cultural context. If this story was indeed a prediction of the impacts of technology in the future (from the past), it would be both optimistic and pessimistic in some ways I suppose. What I found especially striking about the original story was the almost Disney-like nature of the suburban house where the owners clearly lived in extreme comfort contrasted against the deadly tech (nuclear warfare) used to level the entire city flat. As you said, some of the tech we have is similar (or worse, considering nuclear weapons) in real life. Did you know there's some sort of robot barista shop on Green street? I got free samples. Honestly, coffee was fire, can't lie. How will the barista industry clap back from this? Who knows. Maybe the next step is robot coffee mice
ReplyDeleteAs I sat in a chair on a beautiful overcast Sunday afternoon in October at approximately 2:44pm, I found no better thing to do than to hop on Knox's Short Story blog and read about The Looming threat of Nuclear Warfare and the Ever Present reality of a Technological takeover. I enjoyed how you analyzed what people thought the year 2000 would be like long ago. This story definitely has a strong air of the reality of nuclear warfare and the effects it would have on humanity. Overall very interesting and analytic blog post to read on a beautiful overcast Sunday afternoon in October at approximately 2:44pm.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was good that you tied the story to the time it was written. Bringing up the cold war really helps highlight the meaning behind the story. When I read the story I almost saw it as a warning from Bradbury.
ReplyDeleteHi Knox!! Connecting the ideas in the story to both the 1960s and modern day is both very interesting and scary. Back then, they imagined the 2000s as this futuristic time with technology, vastly different from their own. But as you point out, the threats faced in the 60s and today are not vastly different. We are still constantly afraid of nuclear war, but our technology isn't nearly as advanced as Bradbury forsaw.
ReplyDelete-Kai