Player Piano-Kurt Vonnegut

There have been multiple periods in history where man had to wonder if the convenience of technology had superseded his own wellbeing-when we made machines that could mine coal, the coal miners were out of work, and we questioned if automation could hurt more than help. In 2018, we face the same question, this time with many aspects of the food service industry. Is replacing human cashiers with kiosks detrimental to our society as a whole? Are we, like the old adage goes, just replacing unskilled labor? Or could this continue to happen for any number of jobs we couldn't imagine?

These are the questions posed by Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut's first novel. In this novel, machines have replaced nearly every form of work, leaving the elite class as simply those who can create more of them. Those without a job get assigned to the reeks and wrecks (essentially manual labor), the army, or remain jobless. This doesn't mean many people are left unemployed: the government sets up many of its citizens with housing and modern appliances. But replaced by machines, the common man is left purposeless and unhappy. Paul Proteus, one of the head engineers at the nearby factory Ilium, begins to empathize with these people and eventually leads a revolution against the machines.

The novel wasn't only a great read, but made me reflect on my own career; as someone who wants to go into a professional so heavily involved in interpersonal communication, I've never considered that idea that some day, a machine could do what I do. But the people who've lost their jobs before me likely thought the same thing, as did all the characters in this book. With today's advanced technology, especially online, its possible an algorithm could write the press releases I write, or manage a social media account. I couldn't imagine this happening in the near future, but only time will tell. Interestingly enough, Vonnegut's own inspiration for the novel came from working in a factory, where he saw machines replacing people in real time. Spooky, no?

What do you guys think: is the advancement of technology always a good thing? Does it have its limits?