Fahrenheit 451 question

For dog people (I'm not one of them), I'm sure the emblematic idea of the mechanical hound is pretty terrifying; man's best friend turning against him, even so far as trading places. The master becomes the slave (wassup Hegel). I thought real military dogs would have done the job just fine, but this is a dystopian sci-fi novel after all.

The big question is, "Do mechanical hounds dream of electric bones?" I guess we'll never know.

It represents the grasp that the government has on the people. Oppression through fear expressed in the most literal way.

OK, well, you've got me wondering if, in this age of drones and robots, whether Bradbury would have even conceptualized a "Mechanical Hound", type thing nowadays, or something more ummmm... I dunno, "Trendy"?

It was supposed to be a modernized version of the firestation dog (yeah, they used to have them, to sniff out people in burning buildings... maybe still do, but I doubt it - the famous Dalmations?) but with its purpose inverted from saving to killing, just as the fire departments burned instead of extinguishing... but it's sort of too "Cute" in a way, by modern standards at least...

I'd like to have one, though. I'd larn it to smell Obama-voters and sic it on their asses, but good.

You know how Nietzsche said: "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"? Well, forget it; the hound will kill you.