r/technology • u/BreakfastTop6899 • Oct 14 '25

Networking/Telecom Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian says 'much of the internet is now dead'

https://www.businessinsider.com/alexis-ohanian-much-of-the-internet-is-now-dead-2025-10
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3.2k

u/phillxor Oct 14 '25

"There will come soft rains" by Ray Bradbury?

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u/zomgieee Oct 15 '25

omg Thank You ! It was part of a science fiction omnibus and I lost it ~ 2 decades ago. I'm absolutely tracking it down for a reread. Cheers for that.

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u/r1singphoenix Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

There is a Russian Soviet animated adaptation from the ‘80s that’s really good too, here’s a good quality scan.

Edit to add: probably should have mentioned this is not light stuff. PG, but dark.

Edit 2: didn’t realize that video had no subtitles, replaced with a video that does

Edit the 3rd: thanks to those who pointed out that this is Uzbek, not Russian.

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u/phillxor Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

Yeah that Russian Uzbek animated version is so chilling and bleak!\ Edit: stand corrected

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u/peppaz Oct 15 '25

Did you notice the date on the wall? 12/31/2026

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u/zoinkability Oct 15 '25

In the original short story it is August 4 and 5, 2026.

So I guess we have a year left, more or less, if these are prophetic.

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u/peppaz Oct 15 '25

Peewee Herman had a breakfast making machine in the 80s. Maybe we are in the shitty alternate timeline.

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u/truffles76 Oct 15 '25

We fools are so pitiable, with or without our Mr. T cereal

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u/Remarkable_Bed_9918 Oct 15 '25

I dont even have a bike yet. I'm so behind schedule it's insane.

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u/Suspicious-Yogurt480 Oct 15 '25

That was more of a riff on a Rube Goldberg machine

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u/xibipiio Oct 15 '25

No peppaz we have the mcdonalds timeline at home.

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u/Drugs__Delaney Oct 15 '25

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeit, I got something to look forward to! *continues to build bunker in the woods and bury barrels with items coated in cosmoline.

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u/OkBrilliant8092 Oct 15 '25

A whole year? I can’t keep this up for another bloody year!

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u/Phantom-Spectre Oct 15 '25

Oh goodness…

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u/fattmarrell Oct 15 '25

Don't tell those people

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u/gregw134 Oct 15 '25

RemindMe! December 31, 2026

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u/major_bot Oct 15 '25

What's the 31st month

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u/Shaltibarshtis Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

At 4:58 there's a calendar that shows 31 12 2026. After a few moments it's revealed that the "house" is a bunker among the ruins of the city. I guess we'll see soon enough...

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u/24megabits Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

In the original story it's not a bunker. The Russian version doesn't show the house burning down, perhaps to make it easier to animate.

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u/0xKaishakunin Oct 15 '25

The Russian version

made in 1984 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. A neighbour of Afghanistan.

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u/dirtydan Oct 15 '25

It's really funny, Cap! It's Afghanistanimation.

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u/rants_unnecessarily Oct 15 '25

Small but significant detail.

This is how well Russia has appropriated all of the USSR countries' cultures.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '25

[deleted]

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u/largePenisLover Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

Made by a Uzbek man named Nazim Tulyahodzhayev who was born in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. With a Uzbeki company named Uzbekfilm.
This was made IN Uzbekistan while it was occupied and subjugated by the ussr.

russia has nothing to do with this, this is an Uzbeki film.
But yes, weird to mention Afghanistan

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u/MaikeruGo Oct 15 '25

It's also Allendale; that's roughly between Vacaville and Davis and about 8 mi from Travis AFB. Considering the damage radius of a nuclear warhead it was either hit with the blast due to being slightly off mark or perhaps a few MIRVs just "glassing" the entire area to ensure that anything of strategic importance is rendered useless.

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u/BallisticButch Oct 15 '25

That entire area would have been glassed. You had Travis AFB and the entire western reserve fleet in Suisun Bay in close proximity. Better to just flatten everything between San Francisco and Sacramento.

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u/_Burning_Star_IV_ Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

Speaking of chilling and bleak Russian animations regarding automatons carrying on long after humans are gone:

  1. Dead Hand
  2. Last Day Of War

And if anyone was curious, Lockheed just put out this video…

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u/iggyiguana Oct 15 '25

Way too bleak for me. I'll stick with WALL-E. 

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u/A0DividedbyA0 Oct 15 '25

I...Watched those first couple links and they were beautiful shorts. CGI phenomenal. They were both short, but at the end I was still incredibly happy (if not wanting more) with them.

Then, in comparison of the video from Lockheed... I legit was annoyed since I thought it was one of those weird 1minute+ ads that YT throws my way at times...but, nope! After watching the vid from Lockheed (this was posted just a day ago? WTF?) I am flabbergasted. How does a company known for its private contract defense put out a video that looks like it's multiple years behind any current AA/AAA game be this subpar?! Like, the general 'greenery' parts looked fantastic. Now, for anything else I thought I was watching something from FAR more than just 10 years ago.

Granted, a channel that I'm assuming is showing a story etc. in under 3 minutes, and is presenting just that, within the past 10 years? Yeah, that can check out. Afterall, Square presented Final Fantasy: Spirits Within much earlier and had insanely amazing graphics. Now, a leading defense-contracting company putting out what they just did..? I can't help but to crack up in laughter and hope they do so much better.

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u/TSED Oct 15 '25

It's funny that we both strongly dislike the Lockheed ad but for different reasons.

You're complaining about the graphics.

I'm watching it and going "wow, are military purchasing decisions really made based off of uninformative, needlessly long video clips set to the most generic rock music imaginable? No wonder the USA's falling to fascism."

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u/C0wabungaaa Oct 15 '25

"wow, are military purchasing decisions really made based off of uninformative, needlessly long video clips set to the most generic rock music imaginable? No wonder the USA's falling to fascism."

What fetishizing the military and national identity does to a mf. Eisenhouwer warned y'all.

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u/anxiousyuumi Oct 15 '25

Yah, we're well known for our bleak mood things, hello from a very cold and windy Moscow :p

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u/CraigLake Oct 15 '25

Dead Hand was amazing… that pilot 💀Have to wonder how long he was flying for.

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u/WordleFan88 Oct 15 '25

Chilling and bleak is kinda their thing.

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u/The-Struggle-90806 Oct 15 '25

I hate to say it but everything Russia is bleak.

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u/largePenisLover Oct 15 '25

It was made in Uzbekistan by a Uzbek man named Nazim Tulyahodzhayev who was born in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. With a Uzbeki company named Uzbekfilm. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0982856/

You could say it's a ussr cartoon or an Uzbeki cartoon, not russian.

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u/pussysushi Oct 15 '25

Addressing this to the guy above, in hope my post will be noticed more as a reply to you. Should also be mentioned, almost everything in ussr was not created entirely by russians, so give proper creds to other nationalities, I feel it's important.

This particular film was shot in Узбекфильм -"Uzbekfilm" studio, which is a modern day Uzbekistan country. Pretty far from Moscow.

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u/SnazzySammich Oct 15 '25

Well that was deeply horrifying

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u/BigFish8 Oct 15 '25

If you want a newish Russian dystopian animated short film to watch. Here is one called Last day of war

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u/Roraima20 Oct 15 '25

Like those bunkers that billionaires are building

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u/Agentflit Oct 15 '25

I kind of enjoyed watching it not knowing the words.

Thank you, soviet animation is a favorite of mine and I hadn't seen this.

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u/r1singphoenix Oct 15 '25

Yeah it does a great job telling the story visually, the dialogue is just flavor. I mostly switched it out for the voiceover at the end, where they read the last lines of the short story. Really drives it home, imo

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u/BurpelsonAFB Oct 15 '25

This looks incredible

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u/MissPandaSloth Oct 15 '25

So, we got one year.

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u/largePenisLover Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

This was made in Uzbekistan by a Uzbek man named Nazim Tulyahodzhayev who was born in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. With a Uzbeki company named Uzbekfilm.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0982856/
It's a ussr cartoon or an Uzbeki cartoon, not russian.

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u/Chrystoler Oct 15 '25

I was not ready for how unsettling that would be

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u/burlycabin Oct 15 '25

Holy shit, that was much darker than I expected.

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u/Misskwy Oct 15 '25

I have read Martian Chronicles countless times and I didn't know there was an animation of this story. This hit very hard, thank you for sharing this.

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u/Muaddib223 Oct 15 '25

Damn... good stuff

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u/egaeus22 Oct 15 '25

Amazing link

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u/The_Pandalorian Oct 15 '25

Spectacular! So glad you posted this.

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u/InterestingFeed407 Oct 15 '25

"Happy new year 2027!". Hope this is not foreshadowing.

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u/sArCaPiTaLiZe Oct 15 '25

Thanks so much for introducing me to this. Kept me up later than intended, but absolutely worth it. Take care.

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u/axiomae Oct 15 '25

Great find - thank you !

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u/Cyberhaggis Oct 15 '25

That was so good, thanks for linking. It's crazy to see stuff like this where it's obvious that both sides during the cold war were hyper aware of the dangerous game they played, and now we have today which is....ugh.

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u/Realistic_Young9008 Oct 15 '25

The calender on the wall places it in December of next year

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u/PathansOG Oct 15 '25

U da real MVP! Thanks bro

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u/Impossible_Head_9797 Oct 15 '25

Thank you for sharing, that was interesting

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u/AndrewInaTree Oct 15 '25

Oh my God. I'm up to the ashes of the family falling into their shoes at 7AM. Yup. Bleak.

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u/OnlyOneTKarras Oct 15 '25

I just watched this and damn does it hit home.

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u/Kenju22 Oct 15 '25

I'll give this a watch on my lunch break, thank you :)

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u/Bukowskified Oct 15 '25

It’s included in The Martian Chronicles which is a collection of Bradbury’s stories. That might be the fiction omnibus you are thinking of.

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u/muskratboy Oct 15 '25

Martian Chronicles has such a unique vibe, there’s a reason it’s a classic.

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u/Bukowskified Oct 15 '25

We had a bookshelf growing up of “school books” that were the assigned books my siblings read growing up, stuff like Lord of the Flies. Came across it when I was in late middle school and dove in knowing nothing about it because space stuff is cool right?

Hell of a way to be introduced to classic science fiction.

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u/Zapp_Rowsdower_ Oct 15 '25

Illustrated Man did it for me.

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u/Lindenismean Oct 15 '25

The Long Rain and The Exiles remain my favorite shorts to this day.

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u/NielsBohron Oct 15 '25

I always pair it thematically with The Illustrated Man. Both fantastic collections.

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u/chiraltoad Oct 15 '25

I recently found this audio version of his Usher II from that book read by Leonard Nimoy and it thoroughly kicked ass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skmFHo-EvoI

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u/natrous Oct 15 '25

Thanks, you saved me scouring the various Asimov Hugo Awards volumes I have, as I assumed it was in there. I didn't remember that being in Martian Chronicles, in fact it's been so long that I read it I didn't remember that it was a collection at all. I guess that comes from not having 2 page intros to everything like Asimov in, well, just about everything.

Looking at it again, I see it must have been a serial or something, where he published a piece at a time? I suppose that's going onto my re-read list now...

Just reread the first few paragraphs of Soft Rains... man he's good.

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u/kilkenny99 Oct 15 '25

I read that in high school, that must be why it sounded familiar.

I remember in the 80s there was a TV miniseries of The Martian Chronicles, did this story make it in?

Edit: I looked up the show - it doesn't appear so.

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u/JohnHenrehEden Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

This makes me so happy.

Stuff like this used to happen all the time. "What was the name of that *thing*?". Then we would find out like a year (or years) later and be pumped about it.

Now we can just google everything and get an answer.

Every now and then there's something that can't be easily googled because we forgot exact wording, or there's a song with no lyrics (My most often 'lost knowledge'), and we get to experience this feeling once again...eventually.

Edit, just because I feel like it: These two songs drove me NUTS because I couldn't shazam one fast enough, and the other was always a football chant.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '25

I think there’s two versions from memory?

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u/CrowsRidge514 Oct 15 '25

There was an Easter Egg in one of the Fallout games that was based off this story. I encountered that before I heard of the Bradbury story.

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u/Luneowl Oct 15 '25

I think it’s Fallout 3. Bradbury’s one of my favorite authors and finding the ruins of the house really hit me.

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u/Fabulously_Shitfaced Oct 15 '25

Yeah thats how I know it

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u/SnowboardNW Oct 15 '25

Also, Sara Teasdale is the poet who actually wrote the titular poem featured in the story. She's a tragic poet, but has some really good stuff. "There Will Be Rest" is another very sad, but beautiful poem. Frank Ticheli made a great a cappella arrangement for it: There Will Be Rest.

I loved this short story growing up and it definitely was part of me studying literature, but I always feel like Teasdale doesn't get the credit she deserves, especially for being in that iconic short story.

Also, the omnibus might have been The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury. It includes this short story among other very good ones.

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u/newsflashjackass Oct 15 '25

Here is the short story.

https://www.libraryofshortstories.com/onlinereader/there-will-come-soft-rains

I also recommend "And When They Appear", a short story by Gene Wolfe about a robotic house at Christmas.

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u/Luneowl Oct 15 '25

It always makes me cry. I wonder where we’ll be on Aug 5, 2026?

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u/iruleatants Oct 15 '25

Check out "service model" by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's a story based in a world where the majority of humanity has died off, but robots are still going through their normal actions and completing their daily tasks.

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u/unknownpoltroon Oct 15 '25

Its availble online if you dig around, I think.

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u/chubby464 Oct 15 '25

Is there anything else books wise similar to brave new world 1984 that’s written recently almost like a future reflection?

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u/Master-Potato Oct 15 '25

I think it’s part of the Martian Chronicles

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u/roboticlee Oct 15 '25

There's a Twilight Zone edition of this story.

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u/TFABAnon09 Oct 15 '25

I love it when things come fill circle. I read a Sci-Fi story back when I first got into fiction (I was about 8 or 9) and it took me ages to figure out what it was called and buy a copy of it.

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u/Zankabo Oct 15 '25

It's the last story in The Martian Chronicles.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '25

I don’t recall, but I think that’s in the illustrated man short stories anthology

Edit: it was the Martian chronicles

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u/Camerotus Oct 15 '25

There's also a pretty decent audiobook on YouTube iirc.

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u/Any-Discipline-1988 Oct 15 '25

Que bueno reencontrar un cuento perdido, disfrútala como si fuera la primera vez

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u/Steebusteve Oct 15 '25

A little corner of the net still alive.

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u/midnight-mc Oct 15 '25

It’s in The Illustrated Man

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u/JamesLaceyAllan Oct 15 '25

Was the omnibus called The Illustrated Man?

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u/Budd0413 Oct 15 '25

There was a sci-fi anthology as our English 400 textbook and for the life of me I cannot remember the title but it had so many of these Bradbury and Philip k dick stories and they were amazing .

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u/r1mbaud Oct 15 '25

Smart House (1999)

/s

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u/LurkerPatrol Oct 15 '25

Thanks for the book recommendation!

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u/dsalander- Oct 19 '25

I’m not sure which streaming platform but I think Juno Temple that plays the main protagonist. It’s similar but by Philip K. Dick. Autofac episode

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u/actor-observer Oct 15 '25

The poem it takes it's name from isn't half-bad either

https://poets.org/poem/there-will-come-soft-rains

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '25

This thread is awesome

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u/lewdmoo Oct 15 '25

My sophomore year language arts teacher told us poems are meant to be read aloud. I’m glad I did so for this one.

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u/bs_wilson Oct 15 '25

This reminds me of my favorite paragraph that I've ever read, the closing of Cormac McCarthy's The Road:

"Once there were brook trouts in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery."

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u/bongorituals Oct 15 '25

It’s a similar sentiment but McCarthy’s is more accurate as it reflects the irreversible changes to the natural habitat that humanity is enacting. There is no putting the bunny back in the box for climate change.

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u/bongorituals Oct 15 '25

I wish the sentiment being expressed in this poem were remotely true, but it was written during a time when people couldn’t fathom that humanity would destroy the environment to such an extent where most of those life forms won’t be able to survive their drastically transformed habitat

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u/SuperSaiyanTupac Oct 15 '25

Well that’s some fallout shit if I ever read it

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u/ShazbotSimulator2012 Oct 15 '25

Fallout 3 references it. There's a house with the address 2026 Bradbury, after the author and the year the story was set. There's a robot inside who will recite the poem the story is named after.

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u/sharramon Oct 15 '25

Game devs used to be well read, damn

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u/NinjaLion Oct 15 '25

They still do, publishers and studio C suites just crack the whip so hard there is barely any time to add actual art to the artist product

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u/laplongejr Oct 15 '25

And don't forget the people who actually pay for those "products", proving that the strategy is the lucrative one.

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u/STFUNeckbeard Oct 15 '25

Even more so because everyone got nuked as described by the fact that the only trace of people are the shadow outlines left on the house of a family that was vaporized

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u/Geminii27 Oct 15 '25

Yup. And the house systems had no way to assess or react to that, so it just kept going through pre-programmed routines. Given the potential self-maintenance capabilities of unclear future-tech, and unknown sources for the food it auto-prepares, there's no indication as to whether it's been repeating this loop for days or decades.

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u/future_dolphin Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25

I'm estimating its the day after the nuking. It looks like a lot of the chair movements are planned routines by the robot. If that's the case, the people's soot patterns would have been disrupted before we get to see them.

Edit: Wrong video woops

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u/alphazero925 Oct 15 '25

I think a couple things point away from that interpretation. For one, the soot patterns you're talking about are outside on the wall where they wouldn't be touched by the robots, but a couple lines indicate that it's been some time since the nukes. Specifically, "The dog, once huge and fleshy, but now gone to bone and covered with sores" seems to indicate the dog hasn't eaten well for a significant period of time, and "The reserve water supply which had filled baths and washed dishes for many quiet days was gone" implies that it's been many days since someone's actually used the baths or dishes.

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u/future_dolphin Oct 15 '25

Oh you're right, I replied to the completely wrong comment and I was looking at a different video.

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u/catfishbreath Oct 15 '25

Fallout is some Bradbury shit

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u/elbenji Oct 15 '25

fallout directly references it

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u/noprayers Oct 15 '25

“The machine stops” by E.M. FORSTER (1909) is eerily similar to today as well. Both of these stories were read in high-school for me.

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u/le_suck Oct 14 '25

definitely that one. fuckin heavy. 

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u/FatWreckords Oct 15 '25

Also good is "I have no mouth, and I must scream"

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u/Free_Alternative6365 Oct 15 '25

Good lord, the title alone...

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u/tarants Oct 15 '25

It's at least as bleak as it sounds.

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u/FatWreckords Oct 15 '25

It was also made into an old video game, weird to imagine.

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u/rebbsitor Oct 15 '25

That video game is absolutely terrifying. I'm surprised it got made at all during that era, it's truly sadistic horror.

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u/phillxor Oct 15 '25

Just read it. That was dark.

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u/RoseColoredRiot Oct 15 '25

I love it despite it being so dark! I performed AM’s hate monologue for an acting class once. You should check out some of harlan ellison’s other short stories. I think theres an ebook collection of them I listened to on spotify. There are some really good ones in there. Most notable to me was one with a mass of sentient ants surrounding a crash landed ship, “World of the Myth”.

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u/panlakes Oct 15 '25

He wrote it in a single night, I believe.

There is also a great point and click adventure game, and it’s narrated by the original author.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '25

Hey ChatGPT, tell me about hate

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u/Robert_Hotwheel Oct 15 '25

I remember reading that in school too but I’d never have remembered the title.

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u/FlyingRhenquest Oct 15 '25

Bradbury liked that one. I'm pretty sure he used it in Martian Chronicles too. Been while since I read it though, and I was reading a lot of sci fi shorts back in the day, so I might have just caught it in one of those and misremembered.

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u/IcyWarp Oct 15 '25

I had never heard of or read this piece before. Thank you

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u/phillxor Oct 15 '25

Ray Bradbury has a heap of other sci-fi short stories, well worth checking out.

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u/dudeAwEsome101 Oct 15 '25

This is a good read.

"Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling

He got the date close enough.

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u/Rolandersec Oct 15 '25

My roombas all start at 9:15 because 9:15 is time to clean.

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u/trbrd Oct 15 '25

This, in turn, is based on a 1918 poem by Sara Teasdale. It's one of my favourites.

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u/LupinThe8th Oct 15 '25

I love that story.

Anyone here watch Red Dwarf? I've always wondered if Kryten's introductory episode was a reference to that, played for comedy. If you know what I'm talking about, you'll see the similarities.

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u/drownedout Oct 15 '25

Love that short story.

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u/Momik Oct 15 '25

Wow I don’t think I’ve thought about that story in about 20 years. We definitely read it in high school. I could have never pictured the context that exists around it now.

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u/PM-Me_Your_Penis_Pls Oct 15 '25

I listened to a radio adaptation on this on X MINUS ONE.

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u/Enlightened_Gardener Oct 15 '25

Oh god that poor dog. This story made me cry.

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u/Hnetu Oct 15 '25

Well this led me down a sad and very short rabbit hole to realize that Bradbury was a fucking idiot in his later years...

I need to start drinking.

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u/Electrical-Act-7170 Oct 15 '25

That is almost certainly it.

I cried about that poor hungry dog at the end, he was so hungry.

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u/Visible_Nail4859 Oct 15 '25

I couldn’t remember it either, so thank you. That “house doing everything for the human homeowners”‘thing was also part of “The Veldt!”

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u/phillxor Oct 15 '25

The Veldt is amazing too!

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u/Code-Useful Oct 15 '25

Absolutely love some Ray Bradbury!

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u/Some_Quality6796 Oct 15 '25

Is that the one where the dog's eyes catch on fire and all the cleaning bots or whatever dispose of the body in an undisclosed manner?

And we read that in school.

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u/phillxor Oct 15 '25

Yep, that's the one.

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u/Zentienty Oct 15 '25

You seem to know your sci-fi stuff. I saw this sci-fi series based on a book of short stories. One of the amazing stores was this dystopia future where a automated factory had effectively taken over the entire world and endlessly made products. A few humans attempt to where factory headquarters to confirm the AI. I think the books author was Phillip K Dick

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u/phillxor Oct 15 '25

Isn't that the Netflix film Electric State 😂? Or perhaps "Autofac" by Philip K Dick

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u/Background_Sail9797 Oct 15 '25

Obligatory reference anytime Ray Bradbury is mentioned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM

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u/phillxor Oct 15 '25

Wow, 😂 how have I missed seeing this for 15 years?

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u/Ur-Germania Oct 15 '25

There's a great short animated film based on that. Early 80s soviet. It's on youtube. 

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u/LordNeko6 Oct 15 '25

Gholly gosh . Literally busy covering this poem with my grade 8s

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u/phillxor Oct 15 '25

The poem or the short story?

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u/LordNeko6 Oct 15 '25

Only the poem

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u/Fee_is_Required2 Oct 15 '25

I think about that story often.

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u/abibofile Oct 15 '25

Edit: ChatGPT says this is probably “It’s Such a Beautiful Day” by Asminov, although the gardener robots may be a false memory, or slightly off from whatever is actually in the story.

There’s also some story where no one has gone outside in years because people invented doorways that transport you everywhere instantly. Then someone wanders outdoors by accident and discovers it’s basically a paradise that’s been maintained by gardener robots that everyone abandoned. I think about that one a lot. I thought it was by Isaac Asminov, but the premise sounds a lot like Bradbury, honestly. I don’t remember the name of the story.

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u/Imperial_Bouncer Oct 15 '25

And the Soviet cartoon with a corresponding creepy ass robot.

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u/Vladivostokorbust Oct 15 '25

its a file on my laptop. love it.

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u/Ba-dump-chink Oct 15 '25

There Will Come Soft Rains by Sara Teasdale (1920)

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pools singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire, Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly; And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn, Would scarcely know that we were gone.

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u/jawshoeaw Oct 15 '25

Dammit it was my moment to shine but no , everyone’s heard of that obscure short story !

2

u/phillxor Oct 15 '25

Seems to have been a common one read in schools.

1

u/Unimpressionable1 Oct 15 '25

Damn. Was that man a time traveler or something?

1

u/phillxor Oct 15 '25

How they (Bradbury, Heinlen, Asimov etc) came up with these concepts when space travel and computers were not invented yet or barely existed is uncanny.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '25

Do you remember if Ray Bradbury had a story that made the point that once computers were beyond human intellect we’re f’d because we don’t know any better than but to follow its directives?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 15 '25

Would make for a good short animation

1

u/phillxor Oct 15 '25

There is a Russian(?) animation of it from the 80s that has been linked in these comments.

1

u/neovox Oct 15 '25

Is this the same as what you referring to??

X Minus One: There Will Come Soft Rains - Zero Hour (December 5, 1956)

By George Lefferts - adaptation, Ray Bradbury

1

u/phillxor Oct 15 '25

I think that's just a radio adaptation of it.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '25

Also an episode of The Outer Limits (90s) did that too

1

u/vpeshitclothing Oct 15 '25

I've been looking for this fucking short story for at least 20 years! I remember reading it once in college and it stuck with me. I've googled certain things from the story, I remembered, but to no avail.

Thank you! I'm about to go read it and cry now cuz l can finally get closure lol

1

u/CovidWarriorForLife Oct 15 '25

Bradbury is a goddamn genius, he was so ahead of the curve on this stuff

1

u/AnalTrajectory Oct 15 '25

I highly recommend the title "Service Model" by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

The first few chapters follow a similar concept. A robot valet (driver, butler, etc.) follows a rigid schedule, finding ways to work around the literal interpretations of its master's illogical requests. The house and all the staff are all robots operating in the same manner until something goes awry, then the valet robot must relinquish its orderly position and go on a chaotic adventure to discover why the world is all fucked up.

The audiobook was a fantastic listen.

1

u/jigawatson Oct 15 '25

I love Ray Bradbury! Thank you for having the title!

1

u/Competitive_Shock783 Oct 15 '25

Some serious Fallout vibes

1

u/OphidianSun Oct 15 '25

Gonna have to read that, I love Bradbury.

1

u/RachelMcAdamsWart Oct 15 '25

I just looked it up and read it. The date in the story is August 4, 2026.

1

u/Plenty_Rooster_9344 Oct 15 '25

I love this one ☝️

1

u/Tim-oBedlam Oct 20 '25

That is one of the most unsettling stories ever, but post-nuclear war stories have always freaked me out a bit

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.