“I have been reading this and I am about a third of the way through it, and I find it's take on the fully mechanized America that we seem to be heading for very realistic and even compelling enough to make me ALMOST want to destroy my computer, key word here being almost. Unlike the various "robotic revolt" books out there Vonnegut shows us a much more possible yet just as threatening alternative. "Player Piano"takes place years after a war in which machines had replaced human labor in almost every single job, leaving the rest of us humans unemployed with no sense of purpose. Oddly enough the main character Dr. Paul Proteus has the system working on his side reaping the benefit as the most important man in Ilium new York, yet he is still just as depressed and frustrated as the rest of humanity due to his life lacking any desirable fulfillment or accomplishment and his need to surpass his father. The book has so far simply chronicled Paul's day to day life giving us a small window in to this not to far off distopia. ”
