Did you recognize it? This is the plot of Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains." We are used to viewing science fiction writers as prophets. The date mentioned by the author is just around the corner. Is it time to be afraid? The answer may surprise you... Everyone has seen this cartoon, and for many, it was frightening at a tender age. Blurry outlines move across the screen. What is happening here? Where are the people? Nothing is clear, but something terrible has obviously happened. The 1984 cartoon ("Uzbekfilm", USSR) based on Ray Bradbury's story is experiencing a revival today. Foreigners are posting full versions and fragments on social media. They are astonished by the "atmosphere" and the artistry of the animator. Watching something like this as a child was certainly endlessly creepy. Although most of us did not read the story and did not count the details. For example, here is a window, with endless green fields outside, a gentle breeze rustling the curtains. However, in reality, this is a screen. It goes dark, moves aside, and we see that it is winter outside. A nuclear winter. Today, it is doubly eerie. August 4, 2026, the day when, according to the plot, the town of Allendale, California, was destroyed – it is approaching. And it is hard not to recall that Bradbury actually predicted a lot. Flat screens. Wireless headphones. The widespread obsession with short, brain-rotting videos. ATMs. Finally, smart homes – those that will remain after us. **What about the date?** Let's first clarify the dates. We take the English original of the story. - "Today is August 4, 2026," a voice from the kitchen ceiling said, "in the town of Allendale, California." It repeated the date three times. "Today is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of the Tilitas' wedding. It is time to pay for insurance. And there are also bills for water, gas, and electricity that have piled up." So, on the morning of August 4, 2026, the owners are already dead. Literary scholars disagree on when the catastrophe occurred. It is most often believed that the nuclear mushroom rose, and the heavens opened the night before, perhaps at midnight, or in the evening of August 3. The main argument: by 9 PM that same day, August 4, the house is destroyed. After all, who knows what is happening outside? It is unlikely that it stood for a year or a month amidst a nuclear wasteland. After all, where would the electricity for the robots come from? But if there were batteries, they would last for a day. This seems to contradict the fact that bills for water and other utilities have "piled up." But let's think, who would supply these bills? After all, the communications must have been destroyed. Most likely, the owners were in debt even while alive. A fire destroys the building. Only one wall remains of the house. But it is smart and can talk. "In the east, dawn was breaking. Amid the ruins stood the wall alone. Inside the wall, the last voice repeated over and over, even as the sun rose, illuminating the heaps of rubble: 'Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today...' By the way, this is why many have concluded that Bradbury "scheduled" the nuclear apocalypse for August 5. As we can see, that is not the case. In the Soviet cartoon, the action takes place on December 31, 2026. It is clearly shown that the catastrophe has just occurred. The robots wake the family, but in the beds – ashes instead of people. It is said that director Nazim Tulakhodzhayev wanted to enhance the horror with the contrast of celebration and lifelessness. So, according to Bradbury, nuclear war destroyed humanity – approximately – on the night of August 3 to 4, 2026. But it is not that simple. **August or April** The history of the story's publications is quite convoluted. Literary scholars agree that the piece was first published on May 6, 1950, in Collier's magazine. However, at the same time, in May, Bradbury released the collection "The Martian Chronicles," which includes this novella. So, we read the text from "The Martian Chronicles." But it is said that the version in Collier's magazine does not resemble it at all. And the magazine has long been a bibliographic rarity, and no one has seen or remembers what was there. **A Memory of Hiroshima** Literary historians say that Bradbury wrote using the "stream of consciousness" method. That is, he would sit down at the table and write from start to finish in one go. This story was created in just that way. And, apparently, the piece was written on April 28, 1950. Bradbury simply set this date, and chose the year based on the calculation of "far, but not too far." Thirty-five years. A nice round number. But shortly after, while polishing the text, he decided to add more symbolism. The world was still living with the impressions of the bombings of Japanese cities by Americans. Hiroshima was bombed, let us remind you, early in the morning on August 6, 1945. Five years before the story was written. Literary scholars are convinced: the date in "The Martian Chronicles" refers specifically to this event. Indeed, if we take Bradbury's work as a whole, August in his writings is rather a good month. Nature is in full bloom, the sun is warm, people are lively. Sometimes, a writer has a special relationship with months and seasons. Pushkin, as we know, loved autumn. And Bradbury – August. Only the fact that the catastrophe in Japan occurred in August could cast a dark shadow on the writer's favorite month. But then it would be more logical to choose the 6th. However, critics agree, that would be too on the nose. Eyewitnesses say: Bradbury often imagined what was happening in Hiroshima shortly before, for example, on the evening of August 5? A regular evening. People are sitting down for dinner. Mothers are putting their children to bed. No one could have thought that they would not wake up. This filled Bradbury with horror. And that is why he chose not the sixth, but the eve – August 4-5. Perhaps consciously, perhaps subconsciously. And why 2026? There is one almost conspiratorial version. From 1945 to 2026 is 81 years. Nine squared. August 9, 1945, was when Nagasaki was bombed. Again, a hint and symbolism. But that is not all. In editions after 1997, Bradbury (who lived to be 91 and died in 2021) shifted the year from 2026 to 2057. He kept August. Probably, he did not want to scare people with an apocalypse that was too close. From 1950, 2026 seemed almost unreal. From the late nineties and early 2000s, it is no longer the case. **Prophet or Not** So, it turns out it is not a prophecy at all. It seems that way, yes. If we cling to exact dates. But in essence? In essence, do we not wonder today, when humanity is a step away from super-powerful AI, from creating digital copies of our personalities: if something happens to us, how will they manage without us? Will they communicate with each other, calling themselves by our names? Will they fly into space, go to work? A planet populated by artificial intelligence? In Bradbury's time, the concept of AI was just emerging, but "smart homes" (though the term would not appear until 1984) were already being discussed. In 1934, Popular Mechanics published a landmark article titled "The Electric House of the Future." And when Bradbury was writing his piece, all of America was laughing at the sitcom "Married to Joan," where beds popped out of the walls, and kitchens cooked breakfast by themselves. Bradbury's genius lay in the fact that he did not laugh along with everyone, but imagined all these beds and kitchens... without people. Perhaps he is the creator of the now fashionable concept of liminal spaces. Where everything is as usual, but without us. And he embodied his eerie vision in the town of Allendale. A resort suburb of Los Angeles. A showcase of modern (at that time) consumption. All the trendiest and coolest things appear there first. But the other "coolest" invention of mankind – the atomic bomb – also arrives there. Love progress – love it to the end. In all its manifestations. It is not about a specific date. It is about where we are going and what will happen to us. This is what Ray Bradbury wanted to tell us.