Colegio Bilingüe Richmond

Worksheet
Class:_________________________
Date:___________________________________________
Names:____________________________________________________

Introduction

Philip Dick, an American writer, in the short story "The Preserving Machine" * talks
about a machine that has the task of preserving something that civilization can end in its
continuous destructive race. What the inventor and protagonist of the story wants to
preserve is music. The intention of this has to do with the idea that music is vulnerable
and defenseless. In order to protect music, the machine transforms the scores (by
Brahms, Mozart, Wagner, etc.) into animals of different kinds. These animals take on a
life of their own, like any creature with respect to its creator. The final unfolding of the
story is not the relevant in this moment. For this, the reading of the story itself is
recommended. What is certain is that from this story an exercise of invention and
creation can be proposed with some characteristics based on the story and others
different from it.
1) In groups create a machine that has not yet been invented (or has been imagined by
science fiction or cinema) and that has the following characteristics or conditions:

• It is a machine that transforms (or preserves) something of the reality that we know,
without limits to its imagination and without technical limits (fiction). That solves
a problem.
• It must have something that is fed into the machine and something that comes out after
the process from this, and that results in something different.
• Describe the operating mechanism of the machine.
• Describe the conditions for the use of this machine (for example if it is only for adults,
if it is necessary to shave all the skin, how many times it can be used, etc.).
• How much does the machine cost to build and how much does it cost to use it?
• What advantages and disadvantages could this machine have for society.
2) Show your machine, preferably with drawings or plans on a board or billboards, and
try to argue in its favor, while those who listen to you try to make you see the possible
inconsistencies that it may have.