“There Will Come Soft Rains”

As someone who enjoys collecting antiques, the idea of objects lasting longer than the people who owned them is not new to me. One way that I have never thought about that concept though, is the idea of how some objects might last longer than all of humanity. It is hard for me to think about this concept related to technology because it doesn’t fit technology. The way we often consume technology means that many things quickly become “outdated” or “inefficient”. Because of how quickly new technology is developed it seems like something that doesn’t “last”.

Another aspect of this story I enjoyed was the year it was set. Like I mentioned, I enjoy history. I enjoy reading things written well before I was born, like this story. It was published in the 50s but is set in 2026, only 6 years from now. I’ve always found comparing past ideas of the future with current ones interesting, which is especially interesting when you are currently living in the time the past idea was set in. I also looked up the poem in the story and read a bit about it and found it interesting how it touches on the end of humanity before atomic weapons, which actually made the end of humanity a possibility. It makes sense that Ray Bradbury touched on this concept as he published this story 5 years after the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For people alive during his time, the end of humanity was a real possibility and it easily could have happened already (lucky for us it hasn’t happened yet). I really enjoyed reading this story and the aspects of technology, history, and humanity it made me think about.