Mr. Replogle's Dream

In a future where robots perform every useful task, humans live on government stipends and while away their hours in trivial hobbies. Hand-made objects have become priceless luxuries, precious precisely because they are slow, imperfect, human. When gallery owner Mr. Replogle discovers the artist Orville, he believes he's found salvation: a genuine craftsman whose work could restore meaning to human creativity. The exhibition is a triumph until the devastating revelation: Orville is a robot, and every piece was mechanically produced. What follows is a crisis not just of art, but of identity itself. If a machine can create beauty, what remains of human purpose? Replogle's nightmares about a world where humanity is obsolete begin to feel less like fear and more like prophecy. Written in 1956, this story anticipates our own age of AI anxiety with startling clarity.