the inhabitant's favorite music at certain times in the day.

As the story progresses, however, this view of the future changes and becomes increasingly negative. We learn that technology has been used to cause atomic war, eradicating almost all of the entire population of Allendale. With the exception of the house, the family dog is the only survivor, but he is so sick with radiation poisoning that he soon dies.

It becomes clear, then, that the technological advancements made by humans are pointless if there are no humans left to enjoy them. By creating this bleak vision of the future, Bradbury reminds the reader to not be over-reliant on technology and to remember that technology has the power to corrupt and destroy as well as improve efficiency and save labor.

Although humans develop technological advancements to make life better, science fiction writers often suppose a future in which technology spells the end of humanity. This is the case in this story. When the story begins, humans have been destroyed by a nuclear explosion. The only things that remain are stray animals and the now pointless technological marvels such as the seemingly efficient house. 

The setting is in the future and technology has caused more harm than good. This has become fairly common in some science fiction texts and films. Consider films such as The Terminator and The Matrix; machines have taken over the world. Now, this is not exactly the case in "There Will Come Soft Rains" but the technology humans have created (atomic bombs) has eventually led to their destruction. So, the premise is the same: humans seek advanced technology and, eventually, that technology becomes too powerful for them to stop, control, or use responsibly. 

One could argue that it is not simply an indictment of technology; it is an indictment about the irresponsible use of technology. When humans get to a point in which technology does everything for them, they become more like machines and technology (i.e., the house) becomes more human. 

"Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California." It repeated the date three times for memory's sake. "Today is Mr. Featherston's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills." 

It is as if the house is programming the humans, rather than the other way around. Once humans reach such a threshold (when the machines act more human than we do), we lose our sense of humanity . . . and our faculties of thinking for ourselves. Such a future implies a human population that is thoughtless and without humanity; a good recipe for allowing an event like a nuclear holocaust to happen. Bradbury was certainly a fan of technology. However, he saw the dangers of using it irresponsibly. And this has to do with all aspects of life; not just the production of deadly weapons. (Consider a future - and similarities to the present now - when a person doesn't have to remember birthdays, poetry, mathematics, when to feed their children, how to speak to a loved one, etc. At that point, humanity becomes more like thoughtless, passive machines and this is a dangerous scenario.) 

This story gets its title from the poem by Sara Teasdale. In the story, the "house" recites this poem at the appointed time. The poem is equally, if not more, foreboding as it suggests that the world (birds, trees, frogs) will not miss a beat if humans wipe themselves out. 

In accord with the previous posts, Bradbury sees life going without a mere whimper, as does T. S. Eliot. The danger of technology, Bradbury warns, is that it does not care that the harm comes to itself or to its owners. In "There Will Come Soft Rains," only nature will prevail over man.

The theme of the story suggests that our own technology will destroy us if we do not manage it well. In the story, mankind has achieved great technological advances that have made life easy, comfortable, and convenient, but all have been lost in a devastating nuclear war. Advanced technology without the wisdom to control it can destroy those who have created it. Bradbury's story may not be a prediction of what will happen to us, but it clearly stands as a warning not to be ignored.

Probably that the meek will indeed inherit the earth because nobody else would have it! Bradbury is very pessimistic about the outcome of technical "advancement" as was Einstein about man's harnessing nuclear energy. This short story is probably one of his "worst" cautionary tales in that there is absolute no hope left for mankind even if certain events on the planet carry on.

In his hatred of materialism and modern man's insatiable hunger for technology, Ray Bradbury has disaster strike the house of "There Will Come Soft Rains."  The music of the house is silenced, but the memory of Sara Teasdale's poem lingers:

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn

Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Nature, who is not greedy and heedless of life, will survive; man will not.  He will be destroyed by his hubris that drives him to create more and more machines to do his work, until, finally, there is little need for him.  Clearly, Bradbury's story is an indictment against the materialism of the twentieth century with its desire to have technology even think for man. "But too late" Bradbury writes, as man has destroyed everything in a nuclear battle.

Bradbury requires a setting in the future because the setting includes technology that is more advanced than when he wrote the story. In the story, the family house is automated. Bradbury supposed a time when two things would be possible. One is that technology would be so advanced that most daily tasks (cooking, cleaning, scheduling, even remembering) would be done electronically and mechanically. In other words, technology would make things so convenient that people would essentially be taken care of by machines. The other thing that such an advanced technology would make possible is more powerful weapons. 

As the age of technology increases, the means for convenience as well as the means for destruction both increase because both developments are based upon technological advances. The implication (the lesson) is that if people allow their technology to take over their lives, they are in danger of destroying themselves. By relying too much on machines to do everything for them, people become less human, less active, and less inclined to think for themselves (especially if machines do the scheduling and remembering for them): 

It repeated the date three times for memory's sake. "Today is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills." 

If people are less inclined to think and do for themselves, and if this occurs in a future age when weapons become supremely destructive, then we a have a future scenario where/when people are thoughtless and even more capable of destroying each other. This is a cautionary tale about technology. (Note that Bradbury was personally in favor of technology but simply supported a responsible and thoughtful program for it.)