Cocoon

Laumer, Keith. "Cocoon." F&SF Dec. 1962. Coll. Nine by Laumer, see under Anthologies. Also coll. The Best of Keith Laumer. New York: Pocket Books, 1976.

Future world in which humans are physically contained within computer-controlled cocoons, spending most of their time in VR. Their city is eventually reached by a glacier, and the destruction begins. Cf. E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops". See KL's "The Walls"; see H. Ellison's "Introduction: The Universe According to Laumer." (RDE, 07/05/01)