[PW] Science fiction story reference

[Dan Goodman]

Paul Zimmerman wrote:
> A very long time ago I read a Scifi story about a 'post apocalypse' 
> world where the machines invented to help keep people alive had taken 
> over, or perhaps refused to relinquish control after the disaster. Huge 
> automated/robotic factory systems have gathered up all the technology 
> and resources, meaning they can't just go out and start anew for 
> themselves, and people are stuck living 'on the dole' from these 
> systems, taking whatever the robotic control decides to give them. Since 
> these systems were designed only to provide basic food and survival 
> gear, but nothing interesting or advanced, society is at an impasse with 
> no further science or culture possible. The story begins with some 
> automated delivery system giving them food and they try to pretend that 
> it's spoiled/useless and it won't believe them. Then they provoke a war 
> between several of these automated systems by putting out some metals 
> they have horded up. Eventually, one of these factory complexes destroys 
> another, but even after being bombed it is not really dead. The story 
> ends with little pellets shooting out of a nozzle poking up from some 
> underground recess of the destroyed complex, and one hits a nearby rock 
> and they see it's a miniaturized factory. The story ends with the 
> speculation that some of them might end up on the Moon and start this 
> inescapable self-sustaining system even on another world.
> 
> Can anyone figure out what story I am remembering?

My memory says it's by Philip K. Dick.  I believe it's "Autofac," about 
which a Wikipedia entry says

Autofac is a 1955 science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick that 
features one of the earliest treatments of self-replicating machines. It 
is set some years after an apocalyptic world war has devastated Earth's 
civilizations, leaving only a network of hardened robot "autofacs" in 
operation to supply goods to the human survivors. Once humanity has 
recovered enough to want to begin reconstruction, the autofacs are 
immediately targeted for shutdown since they monopolize the planet's 
resources. Unfortunately, the ability to control the autofacs was lost 
in the war. This leaves the future of humanity, and the planet, in 
uncertainty as the autofacs consume every resource they can attain to 
produce what they perceive as needed. The story involves the human 
survivors as they try to steal the supplies they need and search for a 
way to take the power of production back into their own hands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autofac

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Dan Goodman
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