# I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

2 Hacker News commenters recommended I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as older speculative fiction about an AI with locked-in goals, and count it among their favorite short speculative fiction.

## Why people recommend it

- Old fiction about AI with locked-in goals (1 comments): "old fiction that grapples with an AI that has shitty locked-in goals" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46194465))
- Among favorite short speculative fiction (1 comments): "I love short speculative fiction. And the above are among my favorites." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49899887))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Last Question by Isaac Asimov](https://hackerapproved.com/p/last-question.md): 50 recommend
- [There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury](https://hackerapproved.com/p/there-will-come-soft-rains.md): 27 recommend
- [They're Made Out of Meat by Terry Bisson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/they-re-made-out-of-meat.md): 17 recommend
- [Lena by qntm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lena.md): 16 recommend
- [The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster](https://hackerapproved.com/p/machine-stops.md): 15 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0441363954?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780441363957) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison", https://hackerapproved.com/p/i-have-no-mouth-and-i-must-scream/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).