The veldt
by Ray Bradbury · first published 1950
38% recommend63% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Short, sharp science fiction story about a smart nursery that turns dark, valued for its unsettling take on technology replacing parental presence; often cited as a brief read that rewards discussion.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The veldt is a story from the compilation, The Illustrated Man. This is a cautionary tale about computer dependence.
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Bradbury has had a distrust of the purely-virtual forever. Check out, for example, his 1951 short story "The Veldt" from "The Illustrated Man" collection. (You can find the story text online or easily read in a library or bookstore -- it's only 19 paperback pages.) Also from 1951, check out the story "The Pedestrian".…
on “A Literary Legend Fights for a Ventura County Library” ↗* Tim Maly - Time, Again - http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/TimeAgai.sh... * Ray Bradbury - The Veldt - http://www.veddma.com/veddma/Veldt.htm
on “The Egg” ↗…can't even notice that their tablet or phone is even talking to them. Communication from an adult is background noise. I think there isn't a truer SciFi short story out there then Ray Bradbury's "The Veldt." Leonard Nimoy's reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPTGS5DqtR4 Deadmau5 song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvtNS6hbVy4
on “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” ↗…to tell it to. Nobody at all.") Hemingway, Ernest - The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber Hemingway, Ernest - Hills Like White Elephants Makkai, Rebecca - "The Briefcase" Bradbury, Ray - "The Veldt" Saroyan, William - "Seventy Thousand Assyrians"
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗Ever read Bradbury's "The Veldt"? Makes you wonder if Bradbury wasn't a real life John Titor.
on “Harrison Bergeron (1961)” ↗I suggest taking a literature course and learning how to interpret narratives. The Veldt is a classic short story written in 1950 by Ray Bradbury, a famous and celebrated author, who also wrote the famous dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451.
on “ChatGPT Pulse” ↗I remember the first time I read "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury.
on “When Americans dreamed of kitchen computers (2021)” ↗Shades of Neal Stephenson's A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. But also, from a friend who's had problems reclaiming his iPad from his 3-year-old son: shades of Ray Bradbury's The Veldt.
on “A 2.5 Year-Old Has A First Encounter with An iPad” ↗…children calling, "Daddy, Mommy, come quick -quick!" They went downstairs in the air flue and ran down the hall. The children were nowhere in sight. "Wendy? Peter!" They ran into the nursery. The veldtland was empty save for the lions waiting, looking at them. "Peter, Wendy?" The door slammed. - Ray Bradbury, The Veldt[0] [0] http://www.veddma.com/veddma/Veldt.htm
on “The digital native is a myth” ↗The imagery you just evoked reminds me of Bradbury's short story, "The Veldt." [0] [0]: https://repositorio.ufsc.br/bitstream/handle/123456789/16372...
on “Update on Sharing” ↗The NYT painted the CEO as being the visionary of the sphere concept, quoting that he was inpsired by a Ray Bradbury short story called The Veldt. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/nyregion/james-dolan-las-... Has anyone else done something like this before?
on “Las Vegas Sphere reports $98.4M loss; CFO quits” ↗…they’ll have to puke out some key points, contort bullshit into an intro-body-conclusion format, or worse, overanalyze it for “meaning”. Early in high school among other things I had to read was “The Veldt”. Of course I hated dealing with it like everything else. I couldn’t have even told you who the author was a few weeks after the assignment. In late high school, I discovered Ray Bradbury as I began…
on “Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun” ↗Reminds me of these two short stories: - "I Always Do What Teddy Says" by Harry Harrison - "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury
on “First AI-Powered Storytelling Teddy Bear Is Here. I Gave It to My Kids to Test” ↗> Children exposed to personalized LLMs will grow up inside many tiny, tailored realities. It's like the verbal equivalent of The Veldt by Ray Bradbury.[0] [0] https://www.libraryofshortstories.com/onlinereader/the-veldt
on “ChatGPT Pulse” ↗Same, seeing the title and having not read Bradbury for a long time I was thinking either The Veldt or that one (The Long Rain). I did remember it on reading, though, and it's an unsettling feeling.
on “Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" is set today (2026-08-04)” ↗