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Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl
[...] The happiness machine was also about human interaction in the here and now. I was thinking that TV and the internet became like the happiness machine with the ability to travel anywhere and anytime. And, with social media one can have many friends across the globe. However are you really fulfilled or lonely and unhappy if you don't have face-to-face interaction? I wondered what Bradbury thought about these technologies in comparison to his happiness machine.
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I think that one of the reasons why the happiness machine story failed was because it took such a superficial and childish view that it came across as condescending. It's something many Sci-Fi short stories are guilty of. I read this:
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or Saul will want to come out like he did last night, and against our judgment sit in it
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and immediately thought of the first Harry Potter book and its "Mirror of Erised" - but in HP we get a few more hints to think about the nature of happiness, but the Bradbury story kept it mostly superficial:
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The machine says, “You’re young.” I’m not. It lies, that Sadness Machine!
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Which is not to say that there isn't food for thought in the idea, and it wasn't completely devoid of insight:
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If you died from overwork, what should I do today, climb in that big box down there and be happy?
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