Player Piano

by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

“I’m going to get myself a uniform, so I’ll know what I think and stand for.”

“Anybody that competes with slaves becomes a slave,” said Harrison thickly, and he left.

“The main business of humanity is to do a good job of being human beings,” said Paul, “not to serve as appendages to machines, institutions, and systems.”

The man had been desperately unhappy then. Now he was proud and smiling because his hands were busy doing what they liked to do best, Paul supposed—replacing men like himself with machines. He hooked up the lamp behind the Orange-O sign. “There we are.”