Monday, August 13, 2012

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. 
 

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