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1. Hilarious and Thoughtful
   Player Piano is set in a futuristic America where a supercomputer slots human beings into jobs on the basis of one criterion: IQ. It is written both as a satire of modern knowledge economies and as an exhortation to future engineers and leaders that they be certain to always preserve the inherent rights and `humanness’ of humanity even against the boon of technological progression.A man of many talents, author Kurt Vonnegut acquired his love for science fiction and his understanding of the nature of scientific advancement from his undergraduate education studying undergraduate chemistry and mechanical engineering as well as from his time working at General Electric. His social commentary on religion is founded on his experiences in the Unitarian church and his military insight is derived from his experiences fighting in WWII. Furthermore, it is no secret that Vonnegut was a secular humanist, meaning that he holds to, as the American Humanist Association defines it, “a naturalistic philosophy that rejects supernaturalism and relies primarily upon reason and science, democracy and human compassion.” The existential nature of Vonnegut’s philosophical belief system is echoed in his commentary on human happiness and capability.The theme of Player Piano can be summarized as an exhortation from Vonnegut to the reader: “Engineers, think about what technological `progress’ means for humanity. Managers, think about what it is that makes humans `human’ and decide whether or not it is something worth preserving. Make certain that each new technological advancement doesn’t strip humanity of its humanness, because once technological progress happens, it can’t un-happen.” This emphasis on `humanity’ and `humanness’ throughout Player Piano is no doubt born out of his personal belief system. One character reflects on the automated `Player Piano’ across from him in the bar where he stands and says, “makes you feel kind of creepy, don’t it Doctor, watching them keys go up and down? You can almost see a ghost sitting there playing his heart out” (Vonnegut 32). Vonnegut uses this imagery throughout the book to discuss the feeling of unhappiness inherent in human idleness and feelings of unimportance when being replaced. But rather than focus entirely on the dangers of scientific advancement, Vonnegut makes sure to portray the good that technology brings in a positive light. The tension between the good of technology and the bad (reflected in the ending of the book) is masterfully done.Vonnegut captures the essence of a knowledge-based economy in an automated future. His wit and sarcasm are simultaneously light hearted and haunting. This book is a must read not only for Vonnegut fans, but for anyone who enjoys a good, funny-yet thoughtful read. After all, the `value of humanity’ is a universal idea, is it not?

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2. Prescient and a bit wild
   In 2024 (and probably 2025) I’m rereading my Vonnegut collection in chronological order. I recall not loving Player Piano the first time around, but as an older, more experienced reader, especially one staring down the barrel of AI art/music/literature/everything but what AI should be used for, it’s easy to view this one in a new light. The fact that this was written in the early 50s is prescient and, frankly, wild. Vonnegut crafts Proteus as a human character in a sea of mannequins, stepford wives, not unlike Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451. The reader sympathizes, understands, and rolls their eyes more than a few times. It is to Vonnegut’s credit that he manages to makes dark guesses about the future without ever losing the ability to hold fast hope and laugh.

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3. Still relevant to our own time
   Although written 62 years ago, this book realistically describes a society only slightly more advanced than our own in 2014. In the book, there are masses of unemployed people because all the manufacturing jobs have been taken over by factory robots. Additionally, most service jobs have been taken over by machines/robots, and the only people who are left with jobs to do are managers and engineers who design new robots to replace the few remaining human jobs that are left.Of course, because it was published in 1952, there are some technological oddities in the book that don’t make sense for something that is supposed to be taking place in the future. For example, vacuum tubes and punched cards have yet to be replaced by transistors and magnetic tape (which is what the next stage actually became in the 20th century). But in general the book is not “old fashioned” in any way that is noticeable to the reader.With that said, I did find the idea of a command economy controlled entirely by a single central computer somewhat unrealistic. It seemed a little too Soviet Union for me and we all know how that experiment ended. Essentially, the economy in this book is a fascist one – a combination of government and industry working closely together.The main theme of the book is that when people feel they are useless, they are unhappy. In other words, if a person doesn’t have any useful job to do because he has been replaced by a robot, his existence is meaningless.This is actually why I read the book – to get the author’s take on it. (I won’t give the away the ending – it is very well done.)However, I will say that in my opinion, I think people who felt “useless” in reality would actually just do things as a hobby to make themselves feel useful again. Maybe most people would be content to sit around and watch TV/youtube all day, every day, but eventually some people would get bored with that and want to do something with their lives. For example, in today’s (2014) real world economy, people take up hobbies that don’t make “economic sense” – such woodworking, sewing, repairing antique cars – and they derive pleasure from it. So, to me, it seems that there are alternatives to the author’s conclusion in the book…

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4. Editora de alto nível, a história no entanto não é tão interessante quanto Slaughterhouse-5

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5. Follows Doctor Paul Proteus as he struggles with the meaning of life in a world where machines have taken over nearly all human work.Took me about a hundred pages to really get into it, but loved it once i did. Compared to his later novels, the earlier parts feel comparatively overwritten. But this is a great ride, with memorable characters and lots to say about human nature. Feels very timely as we race towards technological apocalypse. Highly recommend sweating out the first hundred pages.

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6. A MUST read for this day and age.

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7. When the haves and have nots go to war after AI/robots strip the latter of meaningful work. A dystopia for our times

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8. Excellent

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