By Kurt Vonnegut
I actually re-read this in July. I neglected to post about it. The current noise about AI taking over made me want to revisit it. It was published in 1952 but feels remarkably relevant now. In his bleak future world, machines have taken over most of the work. There are now a few elite managers and engineers who enjoy the real benefits and then there are everyone else who’ve been robbed of fulfilling career options. All that’s left is the military and the reeks and wrecks.
A few quotes that I highlighted on my Kindle:
========== Player Piano (Vonnegut, Kurt) – Your Highlight on page 278 | Location 4218-4219
You can’t play college football, and go to school. They tried that once, and you know what a silly mess that was.”
========== Player Piano (Vonnegut, Kurt) – Your Highlight on page 279 | Location 4232-4233
“If you are good,” he said, “and if you are thoughtful, a fractured pelvis on the gridiron will pain you less than a life of engineering and management.
========== Player Piano (Vonnegut, Kurt) – Your Highlight on page 279 | Location 4237-4239
“The Meadows,” said Harrison, “where the men at the head of the procession of civilization demonstrate in private that they are ten-year-olds at heart, that they haven’t the vaguest notion of what they’re doing to the world.”
========== Player Piano (Vonnegut, Kurt) – Your Highlight on page 280 | Location 4253-4255
“What have you got against machines?” said Buck. “They’re slaves.” “Well, what the heck,” said Buck. “I mean, they aren’t people. They don’t suffer. They don’t mind working.”
“No. But they compete with people.”
“That’s a pretty good thing, isn’t it—considering what a sloppy job most people do of anything?”
“Anybody that competes with slaves becomes a slave,” said Harrison thickly, and he left. ==========