Week 1 Response to Ray Bradbury

I want to start by saying I did really like both the readings. There’s a lot of commentary in the world about how technology is, “these days,” both good and bad. I’m somewhere in between. I chose to respond to this one over the other because I really love how it’s told: the imagery, the metaphors, and the sharp contrast between a safe house that can take care of your every need and being devoured by wild lions. Every section of the story added something to the canon, it was ambitious and obviously not set in our world (or, at least, our time.)

I like the social commentary, the message it’s trying to convey is ultimately a good one. I love a old-fashion cautionary tale, especially one about the terrifying dangers of ever-advancing technology. My main thing about stories like these however, is that the meaning can very easily turn into feeding the kind of absolute, “Technology is bad, young people are entitled, and it should go back to the way it was before we had smartphones,” mindset. I once got lectured by a stranger in public for my generation being addicting to texting, when I was actually reading one of Edgar Allen Poe’s original stories on an app dedicated to him. It’s very easy to take the brutal ending of this tale, and use it to justify the mindset that advancing technology is bad, period. However, I think the fear that this particular story instigates is more along the lines of the carelessness with which we use the technology we posses, and not just the fact that it’s available. Obviously it’s a good thing that I can access any work of Shakespeare’s from almost anywhere I might be in the world in a matter of seconds. I think the moral of the story is to proceed with caution.

This story has instigated a lot of thought, and I think the meaning that I took from it is important, even though I’m wary of stories like it. I’ve been scared for the future of technology before (particularly regarding privacy and dependency). I think that’s normal and valid. I really enjoyed reading and thinking about this piece.

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