When I was in elementary school, I read a story at the very end of a short story collection I borrowed from the library. I've forgotten the author's name, but the style felt very much like Shinichi Hoshi. My memory is a bit hazy, and I might have filled in some gaps in my head, but the general plot goes like this:
The setting is a near future where civilization has advanced, and much of daily life is mechanized and automated. Morning. In a room in an apartment building, a man lies horizontally on a bed. He shows no reaction to a shrill alarm clock ringing loudly, continuing to sleep peacefully. "Please wake up." The automated voice built into the alarm clock speaks to him, but he doesn't react to that either. ──At this rate, he's going to be late for work. Judging this, the alarm clock uses a robotic arm extending from the ceiling to lift the man's body, dress him, shave his beard, seat him in a chair, and prepare breakfast. However, the man does not reach out his hands to the plate in front of him, and continues to sleep quietly.
The arm, finding that the man does not respond to repeated calls, shoves him into a compact car stored inside the room. The car carrying the man goes through the underground and heads toward his workplace. At the parking lot upon arrival, similar cars keep coming up from underground one after another. However, the man remains sleeping without getting out of the car.
A coworker who notices the man and walks over realizes that the man's body is cold and immediately calls a doctor. A diagnosis by a doctor, who rushed over in a similar compact car, reveals that the man is already dead. It is explained that the cause was probably a heart attack, and that he likely passed away sometime during the night. And that's the end.
Even though technology has advanced to this level, why couldn't the machine realize the man was dead... there were a few points that made you want to point out the flaws, but I thought it was interesting, so I decided to share it. Only, not knowing the title or the author leaves a rather bad aftertaste, lol.
I wonder if that was Shinichi Hoshi's "A Wonderful World."
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