What is the theme of the story "The Highway" written by Ray Bradbury?

"The Highway" comes from a collection called The
Illustrated Man, in which the narrator sees another man's tattoos move and
tell each of the stories. A theme which comes up in many of the stories is technology
gone awry and that a simpler life is more desirable.

In
"The Highway," Hernando notes the desolate road and then is surprised to find thousands
of cars racing north: to America. He learns from a car of teenagers that the atomic war
is coming. They tell him this would mean the end of the world. And, here is the quote I
would use, he says, "What do they mean, the world?" Hernando is a part of the "world"
and yet he has not heard about this end of the world war. Is it because he is just out
of the media loop; or is there also a more subtle implication about his role (a poor
farmer) in the grand scheme of things.

There is a clear
separation between the industrialized part of the world and the less industrialized
countries; this is a separation between city and country, urban and rural, rich and poor
(in this case Hernando, the farmer.) When he asks (himself) what they mean by "world,"
he is suggesting that the part of the world interested in war, land, and technology is
different from his world. Hernando is unaware; somewhat separate from that world. If it
is the end of the world, he won't know until the end, so he goes about his business.
This is part of a long tradition in science fiction that, while technology has
incredible benefits, the downsides can be devastating (atomic
weapons).

The underlying theme is about the idea of the
"world." It is as if only the more powerful, industrial countries comprise the "world"
and all others are just subject to their whims and potentially, they can become
collateral damage in the event of a war. Hernando either recognizes his separation from
that “world” or doesn't care if the war reaches him, or, knowing he is separate from
that world, he realizes there's nothing he, a poor farmer, can
do.

When you hear reference to the "third world," it is a
description of countries which are not necessarily less civilized (they certainly don't
have world-ending weapons); these countries are just less industrialized. Hernando
represents one of these ordinary people from any world: 1st, 2nd, 3rd. The term "third
world" has faced criticism because it implies that it is fundamentally inferior to 1st
or 2nd. And the term "third world" is based solely on industry and market; i.e., $ and
power.

The overall theme is about the dangers of technology
and that simpler lives are desirable and that there is still a separation between
industrial and agrarian, between rich and poor. The underlying theme is about the
concept of "world." In this case, the world is still separated between industrial and
poorer countries. The poor, represented by Hernando and his family, can only hope the
industrial countires don't screw things up for the "other" parts of the world, or the
so-called "third world."