Technological Advances are Inherently Dangerous

Many of the stories feature the overt theme that technological advances are dangerous. In many of the stories set on Mars the characters are fleeing a technologically depraved earth; in others they are fleeing wars brought about by unrestrained technology; and in others they are attempting to colonize Mars when earth is destroyed by some technological calamity. In many stories, the technological advances allow humans to explore alien and subtly hostile environments without simultaneously providing the explorers with adequate defenses. For example, in "The Long Rain" humans have reached and colonized Venus through technological advances but when their technology fails they are unable to survive for more than a few hours in the hostile Venusian environment—some of the men are killed, but mostly they go crazy. Likewise in "The One Who Waits," humans have reached and colonized Mars through technological advances but...