Despite the fact that all humans are dead by then, let's make believe here, or even go back to when they all were still alive. Would you like living in a house that can do everything for you? Or would it make you feel useless if you were sitting around the house all day?

Personally, I'm not decided with it. I despise house chores, but at the same time they center me. They calm me down by distracting me from things that are upsetting me, and they're also a way for me to show my appreciation to my parents for giving me a wonderful home to live in. Though breakfast in bed from my own house would be awesome!

I personally wouldn't. I think I might like it for a while, but over time it would make me lazy and I'd forget about the simple pleasures in life, like making breakfast in the morning, piddling around the house, cleaning, etc.

It seems like we agree about this. I don't remember too much of that particular story but Ray probably feels this way too. I'll re-read it today!

quote:

Originally posted by Melissa S.:
I despise house chores, but at the same time they center me. They calm me down by distracting me from things that are upsetting me...

The Twilight Zone also explored this theme with The Lateness of the Hour.

I like this prompt, it poses an interesting question... Would we prefer being waited on, hand and foot over working ourselves?

I must say that its tempting, but in the end hardwork would be the better choice

quote:

Originally posted by DavidTVC15:
...like making breakfast in the morning, piddling around the house...

This may be a case of two nations separated by a common language. Where I live, piddling around the house is considered offensive!

We may potter, we may pottle, we may even prattle, but we would never piddle.

And now for a serious response...

It's worth considering the era in which this story was written (the late 1940s). An era when labour-saving devices were flourishing. In fact, Bradbury was slightly ahead of his time in this respect. It's worth looking at ideas people had for "the house of the future" back then, and comparing to the houses we live in now - and then looking at the present-day notions of "the house of the future" (web-enabled fridges, etc).

We do like to dream of a life without effort - and yet many of us still use conventional methods of cooking (for example) simply because we ENJOY the tasks that we could otherwise delegate to a machine.

Which reminds me of the chapter about lawn-mowing in Bradbury's DANDELION WINE: sure, we could have grass that never grows any taller, but where's the fun in that?