https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Toynbee_Convector The Toynbee Convector From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Short story by Ray Bradbury "The Toynbee Convector" Toynbee book.jpg Cover of a reprint of The Toynbee Convector, which collects the story Author Ray Bradbury Country United States Language English Genre(s) science fiction Published in Playboy Publication type Periodical Media type Print (Magazine) Publication date January 1984 "The Toynbee Convector" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury. First published in Playboy magazine in 1984,^[1] the story was subsequently featured in a 1988 short story collection also titled The Toynbee Convector. [ ] Contents * 1 Plot summary * 2 Adaptation/ Origin of Title * 3 See also * 4 References * 5 External links Plot summary[edit] Roger Shumway, a reporter, is invited to visit Craig Bennett Stiles, a 130-year-old man also known as the Time Traveler. This is the first interview Stiles has granted since shortly after his return from the future, 100 years earlier. Stiles had claimed then that he invented a time machine (which he privately refers to as his Toynbee Convector, although he does not reveal the name of the device to anyone until much later). Stiles used the machine to travel forward in time about a hundred years from what was an economically and creatively stagnant society (c. 1984). On returning to that present, he showed evidence -- films and other records collected on his journey -- showing that humanity developed an advanced civilization with many marvelous and helpful inventions, and a restored natural environment. He also claimed to have then destroyed the machine deliberately to prevent anyone else doing the same. Initially, people were skeptical of the Traveler's claims, but they are unable to explain or disprove the authenticity of the records brought from the future. Inspired by the prospect of a utopian future, many people began projects to fulfill the vision and create the world the Traveler claims to have seen. A hundred years later, the perfect world of Stiles' visions has come to pass, just as he saw in his time travel. Now 130 years old, Stiles recounts the story to Shumway. Stiles calmly reveals what really happened, simply stating, "I lied." Since he knew the people of the world had it in them to create a utopia, he created the illusion of one, to give humanity a goal, and hope. Because of people's belief in the illusion, the imagined utopian future became reality. After explaining his actions, Stiles presents Shumway with the evidence of his fraud on several recorded tapes and cassettes. Stiles then steps into a machine of his own creation, which he calls "a real time machine". Turning the machine on, electricity pulses through it and Stiles' body, taking his life. Shumway is then left with the decision to either reveal Stiles' deception to the world or destroy the evidence, thus perpetuating Stiles' utopian lies. Turning the machine on once again, in order to destroy it, Shumway quietly drops the evidence into an incinerator set into the wall nearby and exits Stiles' home via a glass elevator. Adaptation/ Origin of Title[edit] Within the story, Stiles says that he chose the name "Toynbee Convector" for his machine, being inspired by "a historian named Toynbee": ... that fine historian who said any group, any race, any world that did not run to seize the future and shape it was doomed to dust away to the grave, in the past.^[2] This is a reference to Arnold J. Toynbee,^[1] who proposed that civilisation must respond to a challenge in order to flourish. This allusion is made more explicit in the television adaptation, written by Bradbury himself for The Ray Bradbury Theater. In this adaptation, first broadcast in 1990,^[3] Stiles refers to Toynbee by his full name and quotes directly from the author. The episode starred James Whitmore (as Stiles) and Michael Hurst (as Roger Shumway). See also[edit] * Self-fulfilling prophecy * Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius * Toynbee tiles References[edit] 1. ^ ^a ^b Hall, I. 'The Toynbee Convector': The Rise and Fall of Arnold J. Toynbee's Anti-Imperial Mission to the West. 2012. The European Legacy: Toward New Paradigms. 2012;17:4; 455-469. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-04-18. Retrieved 2013-09-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) 2. ^ Dreher, R. Truth, history and the Toynbee Convector. 2010 3. ^ "The Toynbee Convector". The Ray Bradbury Theater. Season 4. Episode 8. Internet Movie Database. October 26, 1990. External links[edit] * The Toynbee Convector title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database * v * t * e Ray Bradbury Bibliography * The Martian Chronicles (1950) * Fahrenheit 451 (1953) * Dandelion Wine (1957) * Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) * The Halloween Tree (1972) Novels * Death Is a Lonely Business (1985) * A Graveyard for Lunatics (1990) * Green Shadows, White Whale (1992) * From the Dust Returned (2001) * Let's All Kill Constance (2002) * Farewell Summer (2006) * "Hollerbochen's Dilemma" (1938) * "The Scythe" (1943) * "The Lake" (1944) * "Frost and Fire" (1946) * "The Million Year Picnic" (1946) * "The Small Assassin" (1946) * "I See You Never" (1947) * "Fever Dream" (1948) * "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" (1948) * "The Long Years" (1948) * "Mars Is Heaven!" (1948) * "Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed" (1949) * "The Exiles" (1949) * "Marionettes, Inc." (1949) * "The Long Rain" (1950) * "The Rocket" (1950) * "There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950) * "The Veldt" (1950) Short stories * "Ylla" (1950) * "Embroidery" (1951) * "The Fog Horn" (1951) * "Here There Be Tygers" (1951) * "The Pedestrian" (1951) * "The April Witch" (1952) * "A Sound of Thunder" (1952) * "The Wilderness" (1952) * "The Flying Machine" (1953) * "The Golden Kite, the Silver Wind" (1953) * "The Meadow" (1953) * "The Murderer" (1953) * "Sun and Shadow" (1953) * "All Summer in a Day" (1954) * "The Dragon" (1955) * "The Aqueduct" (1979) * "Banshee" (1984) * "The Toynbee Convector" (1984) * "Is That You, Herb?" (2003) * Dark Carnival (1947) * The Illustrated Man (1951) * The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953) * The October Country (1955) * A Medicine for Melancholy (1959) * The Day It Rained Forever (1959) * The Small Assassin (1962) * R Is for Rocket (1962) * The Machineries of Joy (1964) * The Vintage Bradbury (1965) * S Is for Space (1966) * Twice 22 (1966) * I Sing the Body Electric! (1969) * Ray Bradbury (1975) * Long After Midnight (1976) * The Fog Horn & Other Stories (1979) * The Last Circus and the Electrocution (1980) * The Stories of Ray Bradbury (1980) * The Fog Horn and Other Stories (1980) Collections * Dinosaur Tales (1983) * A Memory of Murder (1984) * The Toynbee Convector (1988) * Classic Stories 1 (1990) * Classic Stories 2 (1990) * The Parrot Who Met Papa (1991) * Selected from Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed (1991) * Quicker Than the Eye (1996) * Driving Blind (1997) * Ray Bradbury Collected Short Stories (2001) * One More for the Road (2002) * Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales (2003) * The Cat's Pajamas: Stories (2004) * A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories (2005) * The Dragon Who Ate His Tail (2007) * Summer Morning, Summer Night (2007) * A Pleasure to Burn (2010) * The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury (2011, 2014) * The Meadow (1947) * The Flying Machine: A One-Act Play for Three Men (1953) * The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit and Other Plays (1972) * Pillar of Fire and Other Plays (1975) Plays * The Martian Chronicles (1986) * The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1986) * Fahrenheit 451 (1986) * Dandelion Wine (1988) * The Veldt (1988) * It Came from Outer Space (1953) * Moby Dick (1956 screenplay) * "I Sing the Body Electric" (1962) * The Autumn People (1965) * Tomorrow Midnight (1966) * Fahrenheit 451 (1966) * The Picasso Summer (1969) * The Illustrated Man (1969) * The Martian Chronicles (1980 miniseries) * The Electric Grandmother (1982) * Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) * Bradbury 13 (radio series, 1983-84) Adaptations * Fahrenheit 451 (1984) * "The Burning Man" (1985) * The Veldt (1987) * The Ray Bradbury Theater (TV series, 1985-86, 1988-1992) * The Halloween Tree (1993) * Dandelion Wine (1997) * The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998) * A Sound of Thunder (2005) * Ray Bradbury's Chrysalis (2008) * The Whispers (2015) * Fahrenheit 451 (2018) * Futuria Fantasia (1939-1940) * The Mummies of Guanajuato (1978) Miscellaneous * Zen in the Art of Writing (1990) * It Came from Outer Space (2003 book) Characters * Guy Montag * Bettina F. Bradbury (daughter) * Spaceship Earth Related * Bradbury Landing * Ray Bradbury Award * Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury * Dandelion Crater * Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title= The_Toynbee_Convector&oldid=1050598800" Categories: * 1984 short stories * Science fiction short stories * Short stories by Ray Bradbury * Short fiction about time travel * Works originally published in Playboy Hidden categories: * CS1 maint: archived copy as title * Articles with short description * Short description matches Wikidata Navigation menu Personal tools * Not logged in * Talk * Contributions * Create account * Log in Namespaces * Article * Talk [ ] Variants expanded collapsed Views * Read * Edit * View history [ ] More expanded collapsed Search [ ] [Search] [Go] Navigation * Main page * Contents * Current events * Random article * About Wikipedia * Contact us * Donate Contribute * Help * Learn to edit * Community portal * Recent changes * Upload file Tools * What links here * Related changes * Upload file * Special pages * Permanent link * Page information * Cite this page * Wikidata item Print/export * Download as PDF * Printable version Languages * Espanol Edit links * This page was last edited on 18 October 2021, at 20:19 (UTC). * Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. 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