#dystopia

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Vonnegut’s 1952 Novel Predicted Our Tech Dystopia

While reading Kurt Vonnegut’s 1952 breakthrough novel Player Piano 🎹, one cannot help but be struck by how accurately he prophesized the future. In fact, it’s almost eerie how close his description is to 21st century reality here in the United States.

Source: lwcurrey.com

In Player Piano, human purpose had largely been handed over to machines, and not just for manual labor, but also for decision-making. In his brave new world, Vonnegut notes one’s very purpose in life is determined by machines. If your IQ or aptitude test results didn’t meet the skill level demanded by the machines, your only choices were military service or public works. Furthermore, there was no chance of moving out of your designed caste regardless of ambition or street smarts. Only those decided worthy by the machines based on aptitude or IQ could become an engineer, scientist, executive, or fulfill a similar heirarchial role. 

Kurt Vonnegut (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) – Source: science.org

Given the immense cultural chasm created by the differences in one’s perceived role in society, is it any wonder that communities described in Player Piano, like Ilium, New York where the story is centered, were strictly separated into the very distinct areas. The “haves” (the elites) and the “have nots” (the vast majority) were separated by a river with one connecting bridge. Rarely did either side cross the bridge or each others paths.

Source: evolvepuppets.com

Such a segregated landscape was sure to cause tension, animosity, distrust, and even hatred…on both sides. Today in the United States, similar tensions between powerful billionaires (haves) and the rest of society (have nots) are quite palpable. Though that is but one division that separates us, it is one soundly based on the unimaginable riches flowing to technology titans who have begun to impose their will on the balance of American society. Just this past week, shareholder’s at Tesla agreed to a pay deal that would make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire!

As Mr. Vonnegut foresaw in Player Piano, the overarching impact of machines in our country (or the world) would soon divide us into two very distinct human camps:

“…between well-educated whiz-kid executives who believe technology is the answer to every human problem and alienated service workers showered with shiny new techno-gadgets in place of real roles as citizens.”

and

“It wasn’t just machines or technology. It was the use of those things to divide the world into winners and losers.”

“The Brothers Vonnegut” by Ginger Strand

Anyone utilizing a computer, laptop, or smart phone who reads this post is essentially falling prey to Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian future described more than eight decades ago. But it’s not just these three items alone that control our daily lives. We utilize all sorts of gadgets, gizmos, mechanisms, and electronics, as well as multitudes of other operating devices to make our lives easier. All of them qualify as machines. Hardly a day goes by where another task has been simplified or replaced by a machine.

And now with so many machines being interconnected to one another through the internet of things and especially with the supersonic advancement of artificial intelligence into our daily lives, the risk of human descent into Mr. Vonnegut’s foreboding future only increases. As he so aptly pens within the book:

“Those who live by electronics, die by electronics.”

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. – page 64

And it’s not just the human over-dependency on machines that is a danger. Mr. Vonnegut warns us of how humans who are feeling lost, hopeless, or without self-purpose or self-worth can also impact our lives at the ballot box. As one character warns others:

“Things, gentlemen, are ripe for a phony Messiah, and when he comes, it’s sure to be a bloody business.”

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. – page 93

Please tell me that doesn’t sound just a little too close for comfort to what’s going on right now in the United States.

And even more prophetic to our nation today is the way Mr. Vonnegut perceived the upcoming loss of our individual and collective humanity. One only needs to read the irate responses posts on Facebook, Threads, and other social media; listen to talking heads argue on news channels to see this taking place; or watch ICE’s actions on the streets of our cities to know this is painfully true. Author Ginger Strand summarizes his concerns so well with the following:

“It was if some people forgot the most basic truths of being human: we are frail, imperfect, vulnerable creatures always in need of other humans for support. Technology was evil if it was used to make some people fabulously comfortable and toss others out with the trash. It was evil if it made that cruelty seem rational. It was evil if it removed individuals from their humanity, if it suppressed the fundamental insight that we are all in this together.”

“The Brothers Vonnegut” by Ginger Strand

The similarities to today don’t end there, but for the sake of brevity, one other key point will be noted. That’s the concept of multiple industrial revolutions. This is discussed by Mr, Vonnegut in the book, though the concept was initially stated by eminent scientist, mathematician, and philosopher Norbert Wiener in the 1940s. The first industrial revolution devalued the need for physical human labor, while the second shrunk the value of routine mental labor (such as tallying data). The third industrial revolution is ongoing with the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence. This paradigm change would result in the value of human conceptual/theorhetical labor (thinking) being reduced. 

Such a theory and the previous paragraphs beg the question, “at that point, are we as humans anything but pawns in a gigantic chess game now being played by machines?”

Food for thought.

Peace!

#ai #books #dystopia #futurism #humanity #Ilium #KurtVonnegut #labor #machines #NorbertWeiner #PlayerPiano #reading #Science #technology #writing

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