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There's a powerful sci fi short story I read in an anthology quite a while ago (I believe called The Flying Dutchman) describing a crewless bomber being repaire
by lemmsjid 5y ago
There's a powerful sci fi short story I read in an anthology quite a while ago (I believe called The Flying Dutchman) describing a crewless bomber being repaired, fueled, taking off, bombing its target, landing, and then doing the same thing again. As it describes this repetition, you slowly realize that humanity has long since been wiped out and the bombing runs are automated systems repeating themselves. (That's my memory of the story, anyhow, I read it in the 80's :) ).
(Edit: found it, "Flying Dutchman" by Ward Moore, it's from the 50's and you can find its text online with those terms)
- wyager 5y agoThere’s a short film that has the same plot - I assume based on that story. I don’t remember the name.
- hjadal 5y agoDo you mean these two short films by Dima Fedotov? https://youtu.be/pyMNIFZTQkg https://youtu.be/pyMNIFZTQkg https://youtu.be/IjJmTeBSEzU https://youtu.be/IjJmTeBSEzU
- lemmsjid 5y agoThanks for linking these! They indeed capture that same concept and are quite beautiful, in a haunting sense. In this case automated technology seems to inhabit the same space as ghosts in a non-sci-fi setting. At least the type of ghost that re-enacts some event over and over. (The title of the short story I mentioned is an overt reference to one of those stories). I wonder what added meaning the technological element conveys, e.g. the difference between a story about ghostly sailors re-entering naval combat ad infinitum vs. a story about robotic pilots continuing a physical war patterned by their long dead designers. Both are a form of haunting.
- r00fus 5y agoI like that the name refers to a legendary ghost ship itself [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Dutchman