Chicken Little
- Author: Cory Doctorow
- Page count: 87
- Started on: 2025/05/29
- Finished on: 2025/05/30
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
-
The title of this book may make you think of a kids’ movie, but this is actually a quite dark story about a distopian future where some of the wealthiest people get to live ‘forever’ in so-called vats. Having that much many money and time on their ‘hands’, they can afford to play the long game on some of the businesses they support.
I found Chicken Little both similar to and different from Cory’s usual works. On the one/similar hand, it explores the dangers of complex tech - especially in the hands of a few autocrats. On the other hand, the tech is further into the future than most of Doctorow’s writing, and the main themes are more philosophical.
As for most sci-fi short stories, I enjoyed this one for its ability to condense a complex theme in a reasonable length. It even manages to bring closure to the story, which was nice after the seemingly endless stream of n-ologies or unfished series that I’ve been reading. They’re all great reading, but I might have rounded this one of for being a short, cohesive story with a beginning and an ending.
You can read the entire 87-page story for free on React Mag.
