Memories of the 28th Century

Or why some handicaps in "Harrison Bergeron" were noises

I was annoyed by the noise level in a bar recently, so I left, but I was reminded of that great short story by Kurt Vonnegut "Harrison Bergeron"; specifically the use of noise to disrupt thought and the use of noise in bars and some other places to encourage people buying more and throwing caution to the wind. It does seem that noise effectively decreases intelligence.

Noise, especially discordant ...

I don’t like noise, and I have a rather broad definition of it. There are many kinds of noise, ranging from dogs howling at nothing to infants bawling to pieces of steel falling on concrete to motorcycles converting gasoline to noise to monster trucks tearing down the road to “wall of sound” style music to evil politicians speaking and so on. It’s Summer, so there are more noisy engines running than there might be at other times of the year, so they are what triggered this rant.

...