User:Iceman87/Stability(Short Story)

Stability is a short story by Philip K. Dick. It employs the device of causal loop to narrate a tale of a Utopian future that is brought to an end by the actions of the protagonist.

Summary
This story is set in the 25th century. Near utopia has been established on earth. Scientists foresee that the human civilization has reached an apex from which it will topple into chaos if it advances further or slide into decadence if it backs up. Therefore, a global policy of stability has been introduced to perpetually keep the humankind in its present state. One of the mechanisms for the Stability is the rigid controls over new inventions, exercised through the patent office. The story's protagonist has submitted an application for time machine, of which he is seemingly unaware, but is told that it has been rejected. He collects it back and uses it to travel back in time and retrieve a glass orb. Once back in the present, he is confronted by city officials, who tell him that the orb resembles an object of legend, and is supposed to doom the humankind to a state of servility. The protagonist ignores their warning and breaks open the orb, only to discover that he has condemned humankind to servility to the Machine