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SCIFI HIGH FIVE

SHORT STORY

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

by Ursula K. Le Guin

THE GIST

The gist

A short philosophical story about a joyful, festival-filled city whose happiness rests on one terrible condition, and about the few citizens who can't accept the bargain. Short enough to read in one sitting, hard to stop thinking about (1973).

ON THE SHOW

On the show.

  • Ep 1 — Why Does SciFi Matter? (05:28–08:28): Rob sums up the story and connects it to child labor and wealth extraction in today's world. He read it in high school and says it "shook my foundation." Caitlin's question for listeners: where do you draw your own line?
TERMS

Terms it runs on.

  • Utopian Fiction — Fiction that imagines a better society and asks what it would take, and cost, to get there.