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There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]

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Re: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]

#361

Post by inigyou »

openasocket wrote: post #295
apelapan wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nuclear annihilation on any sort of global scale is further off than ever in the past 60-70 years or so. The doomsday clock is mostly worrying about climate change, conventional war and Facebook boomers spreading and believing fake news. I don't mean that things are fine, just that Nuclear annihilation is less of a concern than some make it out to be.

With the expiration of New Start earlier this year, there are no nuclear arms control agreements in effect between the US and Russia, which hasn’t been the case since the 1960s. Russia, China, and the US are all actively modernizing and developing new nuclear capabilities. China has been greatly expanding their nuclear arsenal, building hundreds of new silos. North Korea has an expansive set of tactical and strategic…

Russia is bankrupt, and can't develop anything because it sent its best and brightest people to be drone fodder, and they died. If there's a new nuclear power it will be Iran, and if there's a nuclear first strike it will be by Israel.

Re: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]

#362

Post by pavel_lishin »

Nifty3929 wrote: post #358
mrloopex wrote: post #110

Born in 1968 I missed “duck and cover” but rode the wave of Reagan brinkmanship with my skater friends until 1990, watching all the broadcast TV PSAs and songs and art about nuclear war. It was real. It pervaded daily life: the notion that two old white men were having a pissing contest with every human as disposable bargaining chips. And as always, 25% of the US population cheered for purification of the planet beca…

"... two old white men were having a pissing contest ..." This is the big mistake that so many people make: assuming that these folks are behaving irrationally, or somehow focused on something other than what is best for humanity or their own country. The unfortunate truth is that these people are actually behaving rationally, and doing what they believe is in the best interest of their own country or even society at…

I disagree; I think the mistake is assuming that people always act rationally, all of the time.

Re: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]

#363

Post by inigyou »

dbspin wrote: post #256
paulorlando wrote: post #201

It seems quaint now, but it’s astonishing how much the fear of war (especially nuclear annihilation) affected mid-century fiction. In addition to "There Will Come Soft Rains" we have short stories like Stephen Vincent Benét’s "By the Waters of Babylon." In that story, society has been bombed back to the stone age. Even religion is a stone age recreation. Something like hot and cold running water seems like it must co…

Beautifully articulated, but I have to disagree with you on nuclear power. We're close to the point where renewables and battery tech are a solution to all our power needs. Remaining obstacles being primarily political / geopolitical. Meanwhile, after 70 years we're still no closer to a safe long term solution for nuclear waste. Every new and untested nuclear reactor design falls into the same pro-innovation bias of…

and the climate is so hot that nuclear power plants are having to be shut down so their waste heat doesn't sterilize their cooling rivers.

Re: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]

#364

Post by inigyou »

ghaff wrote: post #267
trillic wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did IoT cause the fire?

No. A 15-year old (so not ancient) dumb microwave. Not a luddite but, aside from a couple of Alexas, just no need for any IoT.

How did you start a fire with a microwave? Plain old electrical fire, rats eating wire insulation?

Re: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]

#365

Post by inigyou »

linkregister wrote: post #239
dreamcompiler wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because those other groups are not privileged. Criticizing the people in power is always okay and it should be encouraged.

The parent comment is getting dunked on because it feels rich for the majority racial group to claim aggrieved status. But I agree that adding the whiteness status of the men doesn't add to the story. The distinguishing characteristics of the men were they were rich and powerful. There are many people in the United States who despite their whiteness, suffer injustice, lived in poverty, and are oppressed by powerful i…

It is curious that the people threatening to destroy the world are always old white men, though, don't you think? I wonder if there's a reason for it.

Re: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]

#366

Post by inigyou »

fyltr wrote: post #200
butlike wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where'd the Turkey dinner come from if it's a nuclear wasteland? All joking aside; an excellent animation

They just died that night in the video, being woken up destroys the remains.

There's a video?

Re: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]

#367

Post by ghaff »

inigyou wrote: post #364
ghaff wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. A 15-year old (so not ancient) dumb microwave. Not a luddite but, aside from a couple of Alexas, just no need for any IoT.

How did you start a fire with a microwave? Plain old electrical fire, rats eating wire insulation?

Apparently a short circuit in the control panel in the middle of the night. At least that's what the investigator said. I wasn't using it and was asleep. So I didn't start it. Was spontaneous. Didn't seem to be related to any external wiring.

Re: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]

#368

Post by ElevenLathe »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #332
ElevenLathe wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fear of nuclear war was useful for midcentury US elites because it could be transmuted into fear of Communism. Since 1991 it just isn't as useful for that purpose, so the culture industry doesn't push it anymore. Their use against Japan in WW2 has also (just about) fallen out of living memory.

[flagged]

I'm genuinely unsure why those was posted in response to my comment. Did you mean to reply elsewhere?

Re: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]

#369

Post by inigyou »

blooalien wrote: post #238
ajmurmann wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, in the US it's, AFAIK, now not allowed to come from anywhere but the US: https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/fcc-bans-future-roomba... The admin seems to have a tendency to fearmonger over China and then ban or tariff globally. Allies don't exist apparently.

> Allies don't exist apparently. Aren't our only "allies" Russia and North Korea now?

And Israel, so there shouldn't be any tech shortage.

Re: There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]

#370

Post by graemep »

20after4 wrote: post #344
graemep wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your links do not substantiate your claim. There are quotes of Peter Hesgeth apparently expressing some pretty whacky beliefs, but not that particular one.

Hegseth is a crusader more than he's a bringer of Armageddon. Unfortunately, there are plenty of christian Zionists in the administration who do indeed want to bring about Armageddon. This other guardian article covers the topic much more thoroughly: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/...

Nothing there about wanting to bring about Armageddon.

Neither the "Christian" nationalists nor The Guardian seem to know much about the actual history of the crusades. Its interesting how people with opposite ideological lenses unite in believing the same myths.

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