This is one of the greatest and most influential short stories ever. I remember in college we had long debates about how the machine is the equivalent of what Facebook would be if "the machine stops" (i.e. social networking suddenly shuts down).
Here are a couple worthwhile things to note about this:
- E.M. Forster wrote this in 1909, before there were even televisions. He essentially predicted humanity's future obsession with screens long before anyone else did, and even predicted the advent of video chat.
- He predicted that humanity would become increasingly isolated and disconnected from the regular world, to the extreme that they literally must live underground.
- He predicted that those who controlled the machine would act in malevolence (this is, to some extent, true today)
In the end, it's just a perspective on a dystopian future, somewhat like Ayn Rand's Anthem. Although people tend to have quite polarized views in this area, everyone can appreciate the quality of writing and clarity of purpose in The Machine Stops.
Here are a couple worthwhile things to note about this: - E.M. Forster wrote this in 1909, before there were even televisions. He essentially predicted humanity's future obsession with screens long before anyone else did, and even predicted the advent of video chat. - He predicted that humanity would become increasingly isolated and disconnected from the regular world, to the extreme that they literally must live underground. - He predicted that those who controlled the machine would act in malevolence (this is, to some extent, true today)
In the end, it's just a perspective on a dystopian future, somewhat like Ayn Rand's Anthem. Although people tend to have quite polarized views in this area, everyone can appreciate the quality of writing and clarity of purpose in The Machine Stops.