The Pedestrian
by Ray Bradbury
Podcast Introduction
"If this story reminds you of Fahrenheit 451, uh…me too. You can see Ray Bradbury pinning down this idea about how what is NORMAL is enforced and what kinds of formerly natural and beneficial human behavior becomes subversive. How do we anesthetize ourselves so we accept what our lives have become. Do you see yourself or your loved ones in this story? Can you do something about it?"
~ Kimberly Hatch Harrison
~ Kimberly Hatch Harrison
Socratica Reads Podcast
The Pedestrian
by Ray Bradbury
Set in a future where people are glued to their screens, Leonard Mead is the lone pedestrian in a city devoid of outdoor life. His solitary nighttime walks, viewed with suspicion, culminate in a chilling encounter with an autonomous police car. Bradbury's brief but poignant story critiques a society that has abandoned individuality for the numbing comfort of technology.
“Ray Bradbury is an optimistic writer, but he’s also a realist. One of the most powerful things you can accomplish with science fiction is you can do an end-run around all the psychological barriers we have—all the denial, all the whistling through the graveyard about the fate of humankind. It’s so much easier to face up to our frailties when they’re given to the people of the future.”
Kimberly Hatch Harrison
Call Me Joe
In this short story, a paraplegic man named Ed Anglesey remotely controls an artificial life form named Joe on Jupiter's hostile surface. As Joe thrives in the brutal Jovian environment, Ed begins to feel a deep connection with the creature, leading to questions about identity and consciousness. Anderson explores the boundaries between man and machine, human ambition, and the allure of becoming something more than human.
