Vonnegut wrote this story in 1961. Why did he describe a society 120 years in the future?

A future setting can make a satirical story feel less like a direct attack on readers’ own society, reducing the chance of immediate offense. It also lets Vonnegut contrast the imagined future with life in 1961 and warn readers about what might happen if society fails to address the problem he is criticizing. Thus, all three reasons apply.

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