I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
by Harlan Ellison · first published 1972
28% recommend70% neutral1% critical
Why HN recommends it
Short, harrowing sci-fi horror about a cruel, godlike AI tormenting the last humans; recommended for its Hell-like imagery and as an early take on AI gone wrong, suited to readers who can stomach bleakness.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
This is a story set in a post-apocalyptic future. The Cold War progressed until it was too complicated for humans to manage, so the three major superpowers each developed a computer program to help run the war. When one of the programs becomes sentient it eliminates all of the human race except five persons, which it tortures for eternity.
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…Widely recognized as actual an Author of real Literature, though only his earliest works could be called science fiction. Start with The Deep and Engine Summer. * Harlan Ellison. Some of his stories ("I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream", "Jeffty Is Five", etc.) are simply masterfully written. * Samuel Delaney. He's an acquired taste and certainly gets a bit self-indulgent, but novels like Babel 17 are often beautifully written. *…
on “The Essential Philip K. Dick” ↗I have no mouth and I must scream - Harlan Ellison (Short story) We are Legion We are Bob - Dennis Taylor (Highly rated. Good anyway)
on “Ask HN: What’s your most underrated sci fi favorite book?” ↗Favorite books of the year: (I'm primarily a sci fi and short story novel reader) The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang Like Brothers by Mark and Jay Duplass A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller Jr Endymion by Dan Simmons Hyperion by Dan Simmons A few classics…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗I love the reference to Harlan Ellison's haunting "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream".
on “Intercal, YAML, and Other Horrible Programming Languages” ↗I'm jumping across several short story collections: - "Exhalation" by Ted Chiang - "Ficciones" by Borges - "I have no Mouth and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison. I'm also slowly plowing through "The Big Book of Science Fiction" edited by Jeff and Ann Vandermeer. I love short speculative fiction. And the above are among my favorites.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗I have no mouth and I must scream, by Harlan Ellison.
on “Ask HN: Novels about or featuring malevolent AI?” ↗I have no mouth, and I must scream.
on “Ask HN: Book recommendations for ChatGPT shaped future?” ↗While we are on the topic of great sf shorts: I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream: http://users.pop.umn.edu/~matt0350/images/forumcrap/october/... The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect: http://localroger.com/prime-intellect/mopiidx.html
on “The Machine Stops (1909)” ↗…Perhaps my favorite short-story writer along with James Tiptree, Jr. Here are three stories you need to read right now if you haven't: 1. "Repent Harlequin," said the Ticktockman., 2. Jeffty is Five, and 3. I have no mouth and I must scream, which contains one of the most memorable similes that still sticks in my mind: "the sliding cold horror of a razor blade slicing my eyeball." I'm doing this from memory but I think it's pretty close.…
on “Harlan Ellison has died” ↗Instantly reminded me of "I have no mouth and I must scream". It's a short, but pretty depressing read.
on “The cruellest RollerCoaster Tycoon park created” ↗Not slowly insane, but one that turns the AI into a cruel god, and is more about the humans it torments, check out “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”.
on “By Exploring Virtual Worlds, AI Learns in New Ways” ↗You really ought to read I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. The author has already thought of basically the same thing and written a rather compelling yet disturbing short story about. In 1967, no less.
on “At 31, I have just weeks to live. Here's what I want to pass on” ↗…wealth of fiction out there that features AI without robot bodies. The sequel to Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, comes to mind immediately (because I re-read it last week). 2001: A Space Odyssey, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Neuromancer (I think, haven't read it in a while), I think some of of the short stories from Ray Bradbury and Ted Chiang, etc, etc
on “Inside The Chaos at OpenAI” ↗I also have to point out one of the most terrifying science fiction short stories ever written, "I have no mouth and I must scream." Search it online and you'll find a pdf somewhere. It's short and definitely worth a read if you aren't faint of heart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth,_and_I_Must_Sc...
on “Trapped in his body for 12 years, a man breaks free (2015)” ↗…"Welcome to Life: the singularity, ruined by lawyers": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFe9wiDfb0E qntm's short story "Lena": https://qntm.org/mmacevedo I can especially recommend "Lena". It's from the 'I have no mouth and I must scream' genre of horror.
on “The idea of uploading consciousness is misdirected narcissism” ↗