Player Piano-passage

The scene that resonated with me was toward the end of the novel when Proteus, Finnerty, Lasher and von Neumann had created the uprising in Illium and they finally thought things would be different, that people would challenge themselves and want to create a better society for future generations. However, they soon realize that people are more comfortable sticking to what they are used to and familiar with, i.e. machinery and technology, then producing a system that is different. When a young-teenaged-boy is more interested in finding an "eighth horsepower electric motor," then exploring his boundaries in the new Illium, the four men realize that their original intentions and goals for society will not be reached.
If their own youth, their sole reasoning for wanting to create a better tomorrow, is unable to recognize opportunity when it lies right in front of their eyes, they know they have been betrayed, not by the machines, but by their own people and race. The people of Illium immediately resorted back to the ways that had plagued them since they could remember, but when they had the chance to gain a new understanding to life, they reverted back to the status quo of Illium.
Change is scary because it rests in the unknown; it is unpredictable how things are going to work out in the end, but that is the excitement of life. However, because these people have been so accustomed to a certain routine, they do not know how to challenge and accept the change that they face.
Paul, Finnerty, Lasher and von Neumann were disappointed by their own people, having them betray their progressive ideas. Although it did not spark the revolution they had intended, they were able to have hope that future generations could take advantage of this occurrence and really make a difference.