Kurt Vonnegut saw the future in 'Player Piano'

As Gen Z protests around the world I am drawn back to this 2011 blog post I made about the book Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut. He saw the future way back in 1952.

During these "youth rebellions" my mind always returns to the book Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut. Published in 1952 (the year I was born) it is a book about mechanization/robotics and human alienation as a result of people becoming expendable to technology.

Today we have a corporate global economy that is doing everything possible to make people superfluous as profits come before people. We no longer have many telephone operators, we rarely use travel agents who are being replaced by airline web sites, and even in the grocery stores they've introduced self checkout (which I refuse to do). It's all about cutting jobs. There are zillions of other examples like auto manufacturing where robots and computers increasingly replace people. (AI is now going to replace millions of workers.)

In Player Piano we see conflict result as the younger generation gets the message that the existing society does not need them. The machines become more important than people. The displaced people begin to see the machines as their enemy - obstacles to their own future. In the end they revolt and try to destroy the enemy - the machines.

Vonnegut said this about his story, "Player Piano was my response to the implications of having everything run by little boxes. The idea of doing that, you know, made sense, perfect sense. To have a little clicking box make all the decisions wasn't a vicious thing to do. But it was too bad for the human beings who got their dignity from their jobs."

The social unrest around the world in recent months, has much to do with how the increasingly dominant corporate economy is structured. It is set up so the wealthy few get richer when they don't have to pay human beings, or they at least only have to pay them slave wages.

So is it really any surprise that the youth are tearing up their communities? What stake do they have in their own communities? Do they have jobs? Do they feel like they have a real future? Is their education really any good? Do they want their country to spend more on the military? Do they feel like bloviating politicians who threaten them with more police crackdowns have their interests at heart? No one listens to them now as they while away their seemingly useless lives playing video games or doing designer drugs which are most often supplied by the very elite that then puts them in jail for using. When these disaffected youth gather together and burn and pillage they not only feel a sense of power but the whole word "listens" to them and is forced, even for a moment, to consider them.

It's rather easy for people like me to say these youth need to develop more clear political demands. The bloviators will say they need to restrain themselves and bring their grievances to the "proper" political processes. But the political machine has no real intention, nor at this point any real capability, to deal with the fundamental problem at hand - and that is that global corporate society has written the masses of poor and working class people off the map. They have been expunged.....they don't exist.....and their numbers are growing everyday. The corporate elite have no intention of changing that fact. Here in the U.S. we see the whole program in motion as they attack with a vengeance programs of social uplift.

All the marginalized are left to do is to rattle their chains the best way they can. It's all very sad indeed.

Bruce

Sunday song

 

Request for financial support for GN space organizing

GN board chair Dave Webb speaking during space week in Oxford, England about the several US space war fighting bases in his country.

Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House members across from the Pentagon in Washington DC during space week. They have protested there every week for many years and have been pushed by the Pentagon across the street but many military personnel still park next to this spot or drive by.

Request for financial support for Global Network's space organizing work

Our goal: Building an international consciousness & movement to keep war out of the heavens

­Dear friends,

Pete Hegseth, 'Secretary of War', recently announced that the Pentagon has deployed weapons in space. Now more than ever your support to help us continue this work to prevent a deadly arms race in the heavens is critical.

I send you this letter from Southeast Asia where I am visiting my son and his family which now includes our 15-month old grandson. 

I've recently been in Bengaluru, India speaking at a Law conference at Reva University sponsored by the law school and the Global Network. The subject included Space Law and was hosted by Dr. Aruna Kammila, Director, School of Legal Studies and one of our GN board members. This was the third Space Law conference she has organized in her country. 

The aerospace industry has many Space Law events but they are always promoting the corporate agenda to grab celestial bodies for privatized space mining and military operations that would benefit mega-corporations. The Outer Space Treaty and Moon Treaty at the United Nations both declared that celestial bodies could not be owned by individuals or corporations nor be used as military bases. They are the 'province of all human kind'. 

First year Reva University law students made space issue posters and each team presented them during the space week conference.

So these three conferences inside India have been ground breaking for our perspective. And since India is a major world power, and a leading space power, it has been a huge gift to our movement. 

My next stop is to go to Kathmandu, Nepal where for the third time I'm being hosted by a Global Network affiliate group. They will have me speak at colleges and in a community event. The group is led by college professors and other local citizens.

Upon returning home near the end of November I will start work on our next Space Alert newsletter and will have much to share from these recent experiences.

All of this work requires resources for travel, printing and mailing our newsletter and covering very meager stipends for me and our Social Media Coordinator Lisa Savage. I can promise you we both work alot more than we are compensated because we so strongly believe in the important mission of the GN.

We hope that you can make a generous donation to the Global Network at this time. The new year 2027, which fast approaches, will be the 35th year of operation of the organization. It's amazing that we've been able to keep going and we intend to stay on task at this crucial moment as we see Trump declaring that the outrageously costly Golden Dome 'missile shield' will give the US the ability to 'dominate space and deny other nations access to space'.

Isn't it way past time that the US took seriously the annual Chinese and Russian proposal at the United Nations to ban all weapons in space?

Please use our secure website donation page to make a tax-deductible contribution here.

If your prefer to mail a check to the GN see just below for our mailing address in Maine.

All of us at the Global Network thank you for your support. We couldn't keep this space organizing work going without you.

Best wishes. 

Bruce K. Gagnon
GN Coordinator 

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
P.O. Box 652

Brunswick, Maine 04011

Space week protest at Bath Iron Works (General Dynamics) naval shipyard in Maine. They build Aegis destroyers outfitted with 'missile defense' interceptors which proved could serve as anti-satellite weapons (ASATS) during a test called Operation Burnt Frost in 2008 which destroyed a US failed satellite in space. 

the funnies

Hack, disrupt, deny U.S. votes underway: 'Bye, bye democracy', US-Israel ready to strike Iran

• An Iranian senior security official in Tehran told Fars News that Iran has instructed its various operational units that, should another round of large-scale war occur, including a wave of assassinations targeting officials and the killing of civilians, Iran will consider political targets associated with the US and other participants in the war, as well as their infrastructure, legitimate targets.
• US keeps moving out its assets from its Al Udeid US base in Qatar. If they are indeed evacuations, then once Al Udeid is empty, the possibility of renewed attacks on Iran will be very high.
• Simplicius: As Europe’s daily warnings about an impending Russian attack on the quivering continent grow louder each day, it is the Europeans themselves that continue to posture toward war, accusing Russia of the most sensational absurdities imaginable. European tabloids and politicians alike have essentially merged into one multi-headed hydra, spewing its excrescence of propaganda at every turn. Some of the latest claims would be difficult for even children to believe. Take, for instance, last week’s offering that Russian “KGB” lavatory lurkers broke into the houses of Finnish MPs in order to “defecate” in their toilets as some kind of a mobster-like message. At the same time, UK news blamed Putin for costing the British taxpayers billions per year. 

• Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi: There is no reason to believe in progress in negotiations with the U.S. at this time.  We have absolutely zero confidence in the U.S. government’s stated desire for peace with Iran.
• The Cradle: Nearly half of all US active-duty service members oppose the military’s role in the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to a poll conducted by Change Research for veteran-led advocacy group Common Defense between 15 and 28 September. The poll surveyed over 730 active-duty US soldiers, immediate family members, and veterans and found that 49 percent of all respondents opposed the war, against 44 percent who backed it. Beyond Iran, a majority of respondents also opposed deploying US forces to back Israel’s military aggression against Gaza and Lebanon.

• Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright, Popular Resistance: While Palestinians are exhausted from the Israeli genocide and ethnic cleansing and the coordinators and volunteers of the Gaza Flotillas are tired, they like the Palestinians, will never give up challenging the immoral, criminal actions of the Israeli state. The latest of the boats on the journey to Gaza is the Kate/Tenacity. After a two-month journey from northern Europe, the Kate/Tenacity arrived in Sicily on October 14, 2026 with 12 persons onboard. The Kate left Bristol, United Kingdom on August 17, 2026 and participated in Palestine solidarity community events in Ireland, France and Spain before arriving in Sicily. 

• Korea Update: “Expel Gen. Xavier T. Brunson for acting like a Colonial Governor and Violating Korea’s Sovereignty!" Since taking office as commander of U.S. Forces Korea, Brunson has repeatedly made outrageous remarks that turn our country into a war base and trample on our sovereignty. The university students took action to protest and demand the immediate expulsion of Brunson, who acts as Trump’s envoy of war, repeatedly disrespects our sovereignty, heightens the threat of war on the Korean Peninsula, and provokes the anger of our people. The students’ struggle demanding Brunson’s expulsion was entirely justified and patriotic. However, the police violently arrested the university students who took part in this courageous and righteous struggle. We will continue to fight back until the patriotic students are released and the occupying force, Brunson, is expelled! We ask everyone to join forces and help secure the students’ swift release. Brunson, occupying force who violates Korea’s territorial sovereignty, leave this land! Expel Brunson, the occupying force opposing the transfer of wartime operational control! Expel Brunson, who is turning Korea into a war base! Release the patriotic student activists immediately! October 22 Korea University Student Progressive Federation reported that “More than 350 civil society organizations across South Korea condemned U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson for remarks and military actions they said violated Korea’s territorial sovereignty, and called for his immediate dismissal.” 

• Politico: SpaceX is by far the dominant player in the rocket business and indispensable to the military, dwarfing competitors and accounting for 85% of U.S. launches in 2025. The company is phasing out its Falcon 9 rocket to make way for Starship, a massive new vehicle that SpaceX says will be more efficient and profitable, but which many military satellites aren’t designed to fit. The situation leaves the Space Force in a launch crunch that could affect the military’s ability to put its advanced satellites in orbit — and on time. The Pentagon has few alternatives to ferry its equipment, and SpaceX’s competitors are likely years away from being able to offer comparable services. “Everybody’s having problems, so the Space Force is freaking out a little bit about launch,” said one former Space Force official, who, like others, was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue. 

• On Thursday, the first day of early voting in North Carolina, more than 100 students from North Carolina A&T and UNC Greensboro marched together to cast their ballots. They had to. The Guilford County Board of Elections denied both [predominately black] schools on-campus early voting sites, even though students had used them in 2024. So they walked. In 85-degree heat, A&T students made the trek to the closest early voting site at Union Square. It took about 45 minutes. Parts of the sidewalk were missing or blocked by branches, forcing students to walk in the street. When they got there, the line stretched outside the building. One UNCG freshman joined the march straight from class. It was her first time voting, and she said she wanted to make sure her voice was heard. Student organizer Xavier Jones had a message for the officials who pushed their polling sites off campus: "No matter how far away they put it, we will organize. We will march." Think about that. They made it harder. The students showed up anyway. Thank you, A&T and UNCG students, for walking 45 minutes in the heat to cast your ballots after your campus polling sites were taken away.

• Early voters in several states say their touchscreen ballots registered a different candidate than the one they selected, fueling a wave of complaints as midterm voting continues ahead of the November 3 election. In Nashville, Jackie Herrud told WSMV she ran into the problem while voting early at the Hermitage Library. “I kept punching for the Democrat, Jerri Green, and it kept punching back to Marsha Blackburn,” she said, describing three attempts before the machine accepted her intended choice. Stella Parton, the singer and sister of Dolly Parton, raised a similar complaint. She wrote on Facebook that her selection at the same library kept defaulting to Blackburn, the Republican candidate for governor, and that it took her three corrections before the machine registered her actual vote.

• The Press Bureau of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service reports that, according to information received by the SVR, a new cause for panic has emerged in Kyiv. The Office of the President of Ukraine has learned that US law enforcement agencies, while investigating the illegal activities of Mexican drug cartels, have received information about their collaboration with representatives of the Zelensky regime. The Americans discovered that criminal groups had been sending their fighters to Ukraine for a long time to train them in the assembly and combat use of unmanned aerial vehicles. At least 80 individuals were identified who had received this training in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Payment for this "training" was transferred to officials close to Zelensky from funds earned by drug traffickers from the sale of illegal substances in the United States. 
• Andrei Martyanov: Trump "latest shift" didn't materialize out of the thin air or because of Trump's good intentions. It is not Russia "sensing victory", which already has been won, it is the US "sensing defeat", which produced this shift. Well, Moscow will get it one way or another--it doesn't matter now. It is all about saving Washington's face, nothing more. The scale of catastrophe for the US (and combined West) in 404 [Ukraine] is monumental. History's turning point. Combined with defeats on several other fronts--from getting beaten up by Iran to Saudis facing a defeat--it adds up to a geopolitical earthquake of unparalleled power. Mr. Lavrov stressed it: "The West will never again be the main player, dictating terms." Lavrov stated that in its attempts to maintain dominance, the West is engaging in "unprecedented adventures" - citing the kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro as one example. According to him, the world is approaching a turning point - the end of the era of hegemony and the beginning of the formation of a multipolar, polycentric world order. Difficult to disagree.

• In the past days, the Yemeni army seized 14,000 Saudi vehicles of various types from the Al Saud mercenaries who likely ran off abandoning their gear. 

• How’s it going for Zelensky these days? Does he have the Colombian flu or is that him spitting on the ground in front of the Swedish king after what looks like the king refused his handshake? What do you think? All this with new massive marches in Kyiv opposing the Zman. 

• Defense One: A few months into President Trump’s second term, political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security made an unusual request of its agency focused on cybersecurity: Secretly acquire a voting machine and hack it. The appointees wanted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to procure the machine, examine it and report back the findings so they could be given to the White House, according to two former administration officials with knowledge of the request. The proposition was shocking to CISA’s career staffers, according to one of the former officials. CISA typically worked to thwart hackers. Moreover, the agency had been directed not to alert the voting machine company if it uncovered flaws, contrary to its standard practices. The request made the CISA employees fear they were being asked to take part in political interference. “My thought was they could keep it in their back pocket to invalidate any [election] results they don’t like,” one of the former officials said. “This goes against everything CISA represents.”   

Protest Maine Space Conference in Portland

 

On Thursday, November 5 please join us to protest the militarization of space at the Maine Space Conference. This year's conference is at the Roux Institute, located in the Wex building at 100 Fore Street in the Old Port. 

We'll stand outside from noon to 1pm to bring our messages to conference attendees coming and going during the lunch hour.

This event, held in Portland each year, is where conference goers hear about new technology and new profit opportunities working in the militarized space domain. Both the president and the head of the Pentagon have recently announced their plans for the U.S. to "dominate space" as a "warfighting domain." 

This violates treaty obligations, as does recent disclosure that the U.S. Space Force has already launched an offensive weapon into space. Golden Dome, an astonishingly expensive space-based interceptor program being pushed through Congress, is only intended to protect Washington DC.

Opposing the militarization of space has never been more urgent. Consider joining the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, an international organization of researchers and activists monitoring this dangerous situation for 34 years.

Lisa Savage

Maine Natural Guard
Peaceworks of Greater Brunswick
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space 

History lesson: What Really Happened In Yugoslavia

The Yugoslavia Wars were not about humanitarian intervention. Here is the testimony of a man who was closely involved in the NATO operations and a historian who studied that era closely. 

Professor David Gibbs and Colonel Douglas Macgregor compare their views on the Yugoslav wars, NATO’s role in Bosnia and Kosovo, and the thinking behind the 1999 bombing campaign. Macgregor recalls his work in NATO command, while Gibbs connects the Balkan interventions to NATO expansion, Europe’s military dependence, Russia, and later conflicts.  

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Both Gibbs and Macgregor urged people to watch the movie Wag the Dog which they agreed was the perfect description of the entire war. A made up event to hide ulterior motives.

MacGregor recalls the time he heard from Gen. Wesley Clark that this 'democratic revolution was going to spread from Yugoslavia all the way to Moscow'. This of course turned out to be true in part as we eventually witnessed the Obama-Biden orchestrated 2014 coup in Kiev that led to today's Ukraine proxy war on Russia. 

In other words there was a long term agenda and the Yugoslavia 'break up' of that nation was the kick-off and the 'proving ground' for the eventual attempt to do the same to the Russian Federation. 

How has that worked out so far?

Bruce 

The colonial powers failing attempt to stay in control of Earth

The western colonial declining powers demand to remain in charge of the planet. Those days are over.

Will these arrogant oligarchs destroy the planet if they can't get their own way?

This video eloquently describes this very moment in human history.

Bruce

Who are you to challenge me?

I heard a story the other day
about a Bangor Daily News (BDN) media official
telling peaceniks they had not covered their recent protest
because it was old news.
Redundant....old hat.....
stuff like that.

One peacenik thought about it
and wrote the guy back
and wondered if the BDN
was going to judge car crash stories
and murders and fires
by the same journalistic standards.

I'm certain the BDN scribe was insulted by such audacity. 
How dare you say such things to me he must have thought.
I am the creator of the community reality

I am the maker of fortunes and careers
I am the breaker of hearts and lives
I am the one who does as his corporate bosses tell him
I am the chief lackey around here.
Who are you to challenge me?

I remember many years ago

a media gate keeper telling a friend and me
not to worry our pretty little heads
about informing the public on a particular concern.
The newspaper, the Orlando Sentinel, had a plan.
They were on the case and had it under control.

The media was the message
the media is the god.
A democratic debate was not needed
activism was not needed
the public was not needed
agitation was not needed,
ideas from the great unwashed were not needed,
the media boys were on the case....
Go home and find something useful to do
with your otherwise wasted lives.

And so it goes today
The pages are filled with all the news that is 

fit to be printed.
Whole sections of the paper are left blank for me now
as I rustle though the daily rag
passing the big adverts,
the color pictures of men in orange suits,
in handcuffs
on their way to trial,
for another sensational murder
or driving under the influence
of a crazy society.

Pages of stories about oranges looking like grapefruit
and birds singing in winter
while Baghdad blows up again
and people cry invisible tears,
and Washington burns our health care money,
as politicians tell us they are 

almost there with us.

The news is twisted
and turned
and flattened out
and squeezed
and bled
and contorted
and changed
and shortened
to fit the tiny spaces
between the ads for women's underwear
and cars
and SUVs
and hummers
and big stories about violent video games
and returning heroes from a war far away.

A letter here and an announcement there
that all is well here at home.
That democracy and the old ways are sound,

keeping the illusion alive.

But the truth lies with the rusty scissors
as fewer pages are clipped
and stored
in our scrapbooks
where the stories of our lives
used to be collected
to pass on to our children
so we could teach them
about the good work that was done
to keep the sacred fires burning.

Somehow the spirit rages on.

The Russians learned to read between the lines

of Pravda,

and today we turn the Times upside down

trying to learn the same lesson,

so we can be free again.

Bruce

~ Published on this blog on Sunday, March 11, 2007