There Will Come Soft Rains Summary

New technological advancements develop all around us and due to its constant presence, it becomes difficult to avoid its disastrous changes. In the short story “There Will Come Soft Rains”, the article “A Star is Born”, the essay “The Future of Luxuries”, and the provided handout, technology is the prime topic. In his short story, Ray Bradbury delves into the deterioration of a society due to chemical warfare; in his article, Lev Grossman explains that society is on the verge of obtaining a fusion reactor; in his essay, Hans Magnus Enzenberger discusses the larceny of certain human luxuries in his essay; and in the handout, supplementary information on nuclear bombs is provided. Technology has become a menace to society for the reasons that

is has had harmful impacts on the environment, it has robbed humans of the luxury of time, and a majority of the human race have found technology to be extremely dependable.
Technology has led society into a catastrophic state due to the ruinous impacts it has had on the environment. Bradbury addresses this topic when he introduces the “once huge and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with sores” family dog (Bradbury). This demonstrates the threat that technology poses to the environment for the reason that dogs are creatures that are typically able to fend for themselves in an urbanized area. However, this dog was left at the brink of death after the nuclear explosion went off. The environment was no longer an innocuous setting which then caused the dog to lose a large portion of attributes that signify that it once was some sort of living creature. The environment is a dangerous living space after nuclear explosions due to “[r]adioactive fallout” (Handout). Because there is the steady rainfall of treacherous particles after the explosion, the environment would no longer be livable and humans presented to these particles would also be gravely affected. Once there is exposure to this decay, the natural bodily state would soon be terrorized. Radiation can be the cause of countless illnesses, sterility, and even death. Technology has also dispossessed humans of certain luxuries.
Time is an intensely scarce luxury and technology has deprived humans of such an indulgence.

In Enzensberger’s essay he explains that humans “are bound to a day-planner that extends years into the future” (Enzensberger 633). This demonstrates how technology has swindled humans of the luxury of time due to the reason that it has scheduled out a greater part of their lives. Humans no longer have any leisure time, time for their loved ones, or even time to reflect on themselves which are all essential parts of living and allows people to express themselves and keep their mental sanity. People whose jobs are to improve the way the world receives certain things, tend to be especially time consuming. In Grossman’s article he explains that the fission reactor has plenty of “drawbacks”for the reason that it “produce[s] huge quantities of toxic waste that stays hazardously radioactive for days” but the invention of the fusion reactor “is 30 years away and always will be” (Grossman 34). Here, Grossman reveals that the fusion reactor consistently seems out of reach but it is needed in order to remain safely on this planet. Engineers and scientists work tirelessly to provide the world with such an innovation, but by doing so they lose precious time, time that they can never get back. They are “bound to” their jobs and for the time being their lives are going to be scheduled around the fusion reactor. Society is also affected by technology due to the reason that many people are

profoundly dependent on it.
Improvements in technology has given humans the opportunity to become immoderately dependent on it.

In Bradbury’s short story, the protagonist is a self-sustaining home that cooks and cleans for the family that once lived there. This reveals that over dependency on technology is harmful due to the reason that automation has the ability to complete virtually any task without any assistance from a human being. With automation having these certain abilities, it can cause humans to lose those exact abilities. This immediately poses a threat to humankind because feeding oneself and maintaining proper hygiene are apart of living healthily. Mankind's survival has been hugely dependent on technology which Grossman explains when he states, “... fission … is the kind of nuclear energy we have now” (Grossman 32). This shows how dependency on technology can lead to the ruin of society for the reason that society depends on nuclear energy that is fairly damaging to to its release of radioactivity. Society depends on this machine to provide it with electricity and because the world is in such an innovated period, electricity is a very important aspect in keeping the world working the way it does. Often times, the fact that the fusion reactor releases a chemical property that could potentially kill us is overlooked due to the reason that shedding light on the situation can affect society’s comfort with all of their gadgets and

gizmos.
Technology is inimical to society due to the reasons that, it harms the environment, it is the thief of the luxury of time, and it was a very large dependency rate. However, technology cannot cause first-hand damage to society. These inventions would not exist without the inventor, which is regularly a human being. Society creates these astounding objects and the objects follow the orders they are given. Technology has no brain of its own it simply follows directions that were given to them by humans. So, if society desired change in the technological world, we would change it. Technology is harmful to society, but it is harmful because society allows itself to be pummelled by it.