There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]
Ray Bradbury’s 1950 short story “There Will Come Soft Rains” is being revisited on the exact date it depicts, prompting reflection on its eerie portrayal of an automated house continuing its routines after nuclear annihilation. Commenters note how prescient the smart-home technology feels, contrast that with what the story gets “wrong,” and connect its imagery to post–World War II fears of atomic war and the poem by Sara Teasdale that inspired the title. The thread branches into related works, adaptations, and broader anxieties about nuclear risk, war, climate, and the fragility of modern civilization.
Significance of the Date & Re-reading Today
- The thread exists because the story is set on August 4–5, 2026; people note the eerie feeling of reading it on the exact date.
- Earlier and later printings used different years (1985, 2057), but the synch with “now” feels uncanny.
- Several compare this to other SF dates that have “already happened” (Blade Runner, Back to the Future II, Evangelion, etc.).
- Some say the future “arrived quietly”: much of the tech is here, though in altered form.
Themes: War, Apocalypse, and Nature
- Commenters emphasize the nuclear context: silhouettes on the wall directly evoke Hiroshima shadows; the story is read as a post‑WWII warning.
- Many note how fear of nuclear annihilation shaped mid‑20th‑century fiction and still feels relevant.
- Others argue society wrongly treats nuclear risk as “past,” even though arsenals and escalation paths still exist.
- The title poem’s idea that nature would continue, largely indifferent to human extinction, is discussed and debated; some push back, stressing humans and animals as part of nature that can care about each other.
Technology, Smart Homes, and IoT Parallels
- Readers are struck by how close the automated house feels to modern smart homes: voice interfaces, scheduled routines, robotic cleaners.
- A major contrast: in the story, everything works locally; commenters joke that in reality it would all fail without cloud servers, subscriptions, or would be plastered with ads.
- People note both hits and misses: smart stoves and firefighting robots are still rudimentary, but robot vacuums and lawn mowers exist (and are even facing regulatory issues).
- There is extensive side‑discussion about privacy‑hostile IoT design, dependence on internet backends, and interest in local, self‑hosted automation.
Literary Reactions & Companion Story
- Many call this one of their favorite and most haunting short stories; the dog’s death and its casual cleanup are repeatedly cited as devastating.
- Some dislike the prose as too “flowery” or the premise as over‑bleak; others strongly defend the poetic style.
- Several say the companion story “The Pedestrian,” printed with this PDF, feels even more unsettling and relevant to modern, screen‑saturated life.
Adaptations & Related Media
- Multiple audio dramatizations and readings are shared (old radio shows, famous narrators, soundtrack pieces).
- A Soviet animated adaptation is highlighted as particularly eerie and visually powerful.
- Commenters mention music and albums named after or inspired by the story and its embedded poem, plus other fiction they feel is spiritually related (apocalyptic and post‑apocalyptic works, nuclear‑war scenarios, and climate‑themed pieces).