The ones who walk away from Omelas
by Ursula K. Le Guin · first published 1973
29% recommend63% neutral8% critical
Why HN recommends it
Very short story (about 10-15 minutes) that packs a disturbing, thought-provoking moral parable into a few pages; cited for questions of complicity, utilitarian trade-offs, and hidden suffering behind comfort.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Some inhabitants of a peaceful kingdom cannot tolerate the act of cruelty that underlies its happiness.
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For a related application of this concept, highly recommend The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, by Ursula LeGuin (10 min read). http://shsdavisapes.pbworks.com/f/Omelas.pdf
on “John Rawls and the “Veil of Ignorance” (2020)” ↗…exception of the "ansible") so they don't feel dated. Her writing and story telling is as fresh today as it probably was back in the 60's and 70's. Also, and I almost forgot, Le Guin's short story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" which is quite disturbing and thought provoking.
on “Ursula Le Guin Books” ↗Suggested reading: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin. It's a short read.
on “The persecution of the Uyghurs is a crime against humanity” ↗Another one to ponder, Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" [1, 2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ones_Who_Walk_Away_from_Om... [2] Full short story: https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/emily.klotz/engl1302-6/rea...
on “CIA black site detainee served as training prop to teach torture techniques” ↗A few have yes. Off the top of my head both fiction and non-fiction, Feyerabend's Against Method, Capital Marx, Orthodoxy Chesterton, Blood Meridian McCarthy, VALIS P.K. Dick, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas Le Guin, Sirens of Titan Vonnegut, Finite and Infinite Games James P. Carse, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning Girard, Discipline and Punish Foucault, Capitalist Realism Mark Fisher, some of Land's earlier…
on “Ask HN: Which book/essay changed your life?” ↗…miss (mostly miss) for my tastes and decidedly switched to classics. Curious how they end up for you, I havent read this. I'm a big fan of Le Guin though, have you read her masterpiece short story "The ones who walk away from Omelas'"?
on “Lex Fridman's Reading Plan in Numbers” ↗I think the The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin would be the short story that got to me. I don't know if when I read it was particularly revelatory but I think about it a lot. This will rightly get me down voted but in U.S. politics…
on “Ask HN: What book bit, stung and shook you deeply?” ↗You should definitely read "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" by Ursula Le Guin. It is short too!
on “No management needed: anti-patterns in early-stage engineering teams” ↗…productivity for me. Man's Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl. Living Buddha, Living Christ - Thich Nhat Hanh. Cosmos - Carl Sagan. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin. The One who Walks Away from Omelas - U.K. LeGuin. Wild Seed - Octavia Butler. The Heike Monogatari - (tr. Helen Craig McCullough) “The sound of the Gion Shoja temple bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala…
on “Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?” ↗Those who walk away from omelas. The left hand of darkness. Foundation series. Blodchild and other stories. Enders game. Dune. God emporer of dune. Dune chapterhouse. Dune messiah. The traitor baru cormorant. World war z. Ursula K…
on “Satellites give clues about the coming global harvest” ↗…a really good short story. Thank you for sharing! Some of my other short story favorites: - The Egg, http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html - MMAcevedo, https://qntm.org/mmacevedo - The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, https://shsdavisapes.pbworks.com/f/Omelas.pdf - Last Contact, https://zestfullyblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/last-contact-by-s...
on “Homo sapiens declared extinct (1999)” ↗"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is perhaps her most biting short story. It's not one of the Orsinian tales, although it could have been set in that world. Anyone who writes fantasy should read her essays in "The Language of the Night".…
on “Ursula K. Le Guin, “the emissary from Orsinia,” challenges expectations” ↗"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is very excellent and only a few pages long (under 10 if I recall correctly)
on “The Imaginative Reality of Ursula K. Le Guin” ↗Correct. It's best modeled by neither 1984 or Brave New World---It's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." People get the basics that there are breakdowns in the system of safeguards and a non-zero chance that they'll be the victim of a crime or injustice facilitated by ubiquitous observation. But relative…
on ““Reverse location” search warrants identify all cellphones near a crime scene” ↗Ursula K LeGuin's short story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" is an interesting meditation on this. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:IZDmzk... Yes, generally we do just silently accept these things. You're typing this on a PC or phone built…
on “Amazon Prime delivery delays are now as long as a month” ↗