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A review by doughnuts1
Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I've never read a book so relevant but dated at the same time. Player Piano is actually quite relevant for today, especially in our new age of AI. In the story, machines have all but replaced humans in terms of work and productivity. After a third world war, a new society is built with an emphasis on machines running everything (think dystopian books, unfortunately i can't think of one like this but humans rely too heavily on machines for day-to-day life: making food instantly, cleaning clothes instantly, cleaning the house instantly etc). Everyone is taken care for on a basic needs level (i.e. food, housing, healthcare—what a life! ironically something many don't have today and suffer for it), but people lack purpose. Those not smart enough are enlisted in the Reeks and Recks, a sort of quasi-military where people are given shitty jobs. Our main protagonist, Paul, is the son of the founder of this new american society. He begins to question such a society, after meeting with 'forward thinkers.' Eventually, he joins the revolution and unwillingly becomes the face of it, later actually joining the upper echelons. He and his revoluntionarist, Ghost Shirt Society (named after the American Indian Ghost Dance historical events where some American Indian tribes...I should research which exact ones but anyways...they lead toward a cultural movement to try to stop their violent colonization). Anyways...the Ghost Shirt Society leads a revolution, only to pretty much find that after destroying all the machines, people want to actually depend on machines for their basic needs (food, water, housing safety), and want engineer things that are ~cool~ and also help with their everyday tasks. There are also other storylines happening that do connect with this main one such as a "middle eastern" king touring america and comparing 'free' americans to his people who are slaves, and that his country and america are quite similar despite america believing to be a country of ~freedom~.
My thoughts on the book: it was a hard ass read. I got confused with the names often and the pacing was extremely slow the first 150 pages. It's definitely not Kurt Vonnegut's best work, though it does bring up a great point, which is the dangerous nature of machines replacing humans. Humans will constantly innovate, never being satisfied, always wanting more, and with this hunger it can lead to dangerous outcomes of humans being replaced by machines. Today we worry about AI replacing jobs, which is true and it's happening, which is why this is a great read. While Player Piano has these themes way beyond its time, it's ironically dated in terms of women's purpose (stay at home homemakers) and people of color (very racist, but not unlike the rhetoric Trump is spewing).
My thoughts on the book: it was a hard ass read. I got confused with the names often and the pacing was extremely slow the first 150 pages. It's definitely not Kurt Vonnegut's best work, though it does bring up a great point, which is the dangerous nature of machines replacing humans. Humans will constantly innovate, never being satisfied, always wanting more, and with this hunger it can lead to dangerous outcomes of humans being replaced by machines. Today we worry about AI replacing jobs, which is true and it's happening, which is why this is a great read. While Player Piano has these themes way beyond its time, it's ironically dated in terms of women's purpose (stay at home homemakers) and people of color (very racist, but not unlike the rhetoric Trump is spewing).