Journal Entry 34: Irony

In the story “There Will Come Soft Rains,” the author creates a world in which people are provided with all the comforts of life and in which most of the menial tasks are done for them by machines. It seems like an ideal life in which every need is immediately satisfied, yet we soon find out that humans have annihilated themselves through nuclear war. If the world was such an idyllic place, what would lead people to go to war and destroy each other? Do you find this ironic? Explain why or why not. Is this kind of situation applicable to our world today? Do you think that things are so good that people would never risk destroying it? What is left to fight over that would make people destroy the world?

I think something like jealousy and hunger for more power caused the war. People probably weren't all as rich as the people that lived in the high-tech house in "There Will Come Soft Rains", so they probably got jealous and started a war because of the inequality between people. Maybe different countries want to control the whole world and started a WWIII and bombed each other and kill everyone in the process, causing humans to go extinct. I think it's quite ironic, because the whole text is basically about how convenient and great the world was, but there was no one there to enjoy it! All the people died to fight over something that's unknown to us, but it's quite silly because they shouldn't fight each other and risk all this luxury. Who would create a perfect world and destroy it themselves!? Apparently (according to the text), humans would, which is stupid! I think this kind of situation is applicable to our worlds today because we still fight among ourselves and compete against each other even though we already have a lot and should probably be grateful for what we have.