It’s 1952, and Delacorte Press publishes a debut novel by a 23-year-old writer. Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a former employee of General Electric, has written a book inspired by his experience working there.
His debut novel addresses the issues of replacing human labor and the resulting loss of purpose and meaning in life. He titles it “Player Piano . ” Vonnegut uses the player piano, or automatic piano, to show how even an activity such as someone playing the piano at a local bar can be replaced by a machine that does it for a quarter.
At the time, many wrote the novel off as science fiction and it was not given the attention it deserved. The premise was too fantastical for the average reader. “Player Piano” takes place in a future in which machines have replaced the majority of human laborers in the United States following a devastating war.
Due to this reliance on machines, engineers became the most important members of society. People were divided into three classes: the managers and engineers, soldiers and the Reconstruction and Reclamation Corps or, as they are more commonly referred to as, Reeks and Wrecks. While the managers and engineers are at the top of the hierarchy of man, EPICAC, a highly advanced supercomputer, calls the shots.
EPICAC calculates and manages various aspects of production and consumption in their society. It acts as a brain, determining how many products will be sold, how many workers are needed and what their roles should be. The divide between.
