Powerful speculative fiction on demographic decline. The detail about Hugh's taste buds only coming alive with Amish bread really nails how sterile automated living becomes compared to human-made goods. I had a neighbor who lived alone for years subsisting on delivery meal kits and when we finally got him to family dinner the taste shock was pretty simlar. The will moment felt earned because the relationshp built gradually rather than forced.
Thank you! I'm sure fully automated luxury living could make tasty meals, but as the society moves toward collapse taste will be sacrificed to keep the machine running.
This was a nice change of pace. My reaction to it reminded me, in a less depressing but still melancholy way, of how I felt reading Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” in THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES.
The Amish are an odd case. It's hard to deny they're healthier and happier than most Americans, but since they're pacifists, they cannot exist without the protection of our industrial society, which they reject. I don't know what to think of that.
Yes, the pacifism issue would be a problem. I handwaved it in this story with the "rumspringa" reference, but something longer would have to address it.
It's implicit in the premise that the "not so nice" groups are no longer an issue, since they haven't overrun the Amish. A story discussing that would be . . . not so nice.
Powerful speculative fiction on demographic decline. The detail about Hugh's taste buds only coming alive with Amish bread really nails how sterile automated living becomes compared to human-made goods. I had a neighbor who lived alone for years subsisting on delivery meal kits and when we finally got him to family dinner the taste shock was pretty simlar. The will moment felt earned because the relationshp built gradually rather than forced.
Thank you! I'm sure fully automated luxury living could make tasty meals, but as the society moves toward collapse taste will be sacrificed to keep the machine running.
That makes me think of E.M. Forster's "The Machine Stops," a disturbingly prescient novella written before the Great War.
This was a nice change of pace. My reaction to it reminded me, in a less depressing but still melancholy way, of how I felt reading Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” in THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES.
Yes, that's a memorable story. I was aiming for something a bit more hopeful.
The Amish are an odd case. It's hard to deny they're healthier and happier than most Americans, but since they're pacifists, they cannot exist without the protection of our industrial society, which they reject. I don't know what to think of that.
Yes, the pacifism issue would be a problem. I handwaved it in this story with the "rumspringa" reference, but something longer would have to address it.
Hey, did a review of Ultimate Conclusions, which I picked up in the Based Book Sale.
If you'd like to see: https://open.substack.com/pub/zaklog/p/reviewing-ultimate-conclusions-by?r=2nmhek&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Thank you!
I think I caught a few typos by the way. If you can fix them, I can send you a list.
Please do!
Sent it in messages.
That was very heartwarming. I enjoyed it very much. Shows that human beings can, despite appearances, still be lovely to each other.
Thank you!
There are other groups besides the Amish having multiple children, some of them not so nice. Still, this is the story you chose to write.
It's implicit in the premise that the "not so nice" groups are no longer an issue, since they haven't overrun the Amish. A story discussing that would be . . . not so nice.