The Machine Stops

By E. M. Forster

The Machine Stops is a short science fiction story. It describes a world in which almost all humans have lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual lives in isolation in a 'cell', with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Most humans welcome this development, as they are skeptical and fearful of first-hand experience. People forget that humans created the Machine, and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own. Those who do not accept the deity of the Machine are viewed as 'unmechanical' and are threatened with "Homelessness". Eventually, the Machine apocalyptically collapses, and the civilization of the Machine comes to an end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sheba Blake Publishing
• Release date: Dec 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781304757364

E. M. Forster

E.M. Forster (1879-1970) was an English novelist. Born in London to an Anglo-Irish mother and a Welsh father, Forster moved with his mother to Rooks Nest, a country house in rural Hertfordshire, in 1883, following his father’s death from tuberculosis. He received a sizeable inheritance from his great-aunt, which allowed him to pursue his studies and support himself as a professional writer. Forster attended King’s College, Cambridge, from 1897 to 1901, where he met many of the people who would later make up the legendary Bloomsbury Group of such writers and intellectuals as Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, and John Maynard Keynes. A gay man, Forster lived with his mother for much of his life in Weybridge, Surrey, where he wrote the novels A Room with a View, Howards End, and A Passage to India. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature sixteen times without winning, Forster is now recognized as one of the most important writers of twentieth century English fiction, and is remembered for his unique vision of English life and powerful critique of the inequities of class.

Reviews for The Machine Stops

[qgil_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ahead of time by a century. What a great imagination!

[billsearth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good idea developed into a long story. Ending sort of grim though. Ahead of its time by a century.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An interesting future vision of a time when people connect only via screens and wires, but otherwise live in complete isolation from one another. They become so dependent on the machine that they have built that they transform it into a deity, forget how to keep it running, and so are doomed when the machine finally breaks down. This is really more of an idea sketch than a story, as the characters are broad and the plot is thin. But considering the time at which this was written, Forster shows a remarkable prescience in imagining what could essentially be an extreme version of the Internet, and the dangers such technology poses.

[wendymcf_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I can't imagine ever listening to it a 2nd time.This is an amazingly forethinking story about a time when people retreat to the solitude of their rooms, interacting with others only by way of connection to the Machine. But the dramatized performance reading of it was SO irritating. I first read the story about 10 years ago, and was really excited at the prospect of experiencing it again and in audio. And yet, it was worse than disappointing.

[zoes_human · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely love this short story, but I'm not near as big a fan of the audio. The narration just didn't work for me.

[reneepaule · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Audio book version. Great film too.

[sylvester_olson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a startling read. Not only did the author predict some of the Futuristic design aesthetics of the 1960's (hexagonal, Buckminster Fuller-ish geodesic architecture), he predicted the plastic, impersonal, antisocial consequences of the Communication Age. It's astounding that this was written in 1909. Makes for a short read, as well as a highly pertinent read for today's times.

[la2bkk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In The Machine Stops, humanity has moved underground, avoiding all personal contact with others and direct experience in general, instead preferring to exist in solitary conditions with all needs provided for by The Machine. Considering this short work was written in the very early 1900s it is remarkably prescient, e.g., the depiction of video communications much like those which exist today. Of course, the real message is that society must always beware of becoming too enamored and/or dependent upon technology. One wonders what the author would think if living today where seemingly everyone is obsessed with their smart phone.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Who knew E. M. Forster wrote science fiction? Not me but fortunately my German friend did and brought this book to Winnipeg for me. It was a quick read as it is less than 50 pages but I found it interesting.The story is set in a future time when all the inhabitants of earth live underground and "The Machine" manages everything for them. They have clean air, communication, transportation, food and shelter. What they do not have is face-to-face meetings or at least they don't have them very often. Vashti is an older woman living in the Southern Hemisphere perhaps near or underneath what used to be Australia. She is described as "...a swaddled lump of flesh--a woman, about five feet high, with a face as white as a fungus." She has a son (Kuno) who lives in the Northern Hemisphere. As the story opens Kuno calls Vashti to ask her to come visit him. At first Vashti refuses but when Kuno stops communicating with her she relents. This involves taking a harrowing two day air-ship voyage. When she finally gets to see Kuno she discovers that he has been outside without permission from The Machine. Kuno is now at risk of Homelessness i.e. being sent out onto the surface which means death. Or does it? Kuno swears he saw someone else on the surface when he went up there. In the end it doesn't really matter.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Holy cow. Really it's a century old? But what it talks about is so perfectly contemporary. And the writing is not archaic, but rather fully engaging. One could call it science fiction, but somehow all the SF historians focused on Wells and Verne and Lovecraft and missed this.

So: euthanasia, Facebook, the disconnect from fresh air and other first-hand experiences, over-reliance on technology and automation, conformity, religion & spirituality, historians and researchers incestuous re-quoting and bickering interpretations, obedience and conformity, the meaning of family, eugenics -- wow - lots to think about. I have no idea why this isn't more famous.

[eclecticdodo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Classic science fiction. Humans now live in underground cells, physically isolated, yet connected through technology. The machine takes on a god-like role supporting and managing all aspects of life. An interesting book that is still relavent 100 years on, particularly with the advent of social media and virtual friendships.

[forevermasterless · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A long short story/short novella from 1909 that is by far the most prescient piece of fiction I have ever read. Piercingly intelligent and brilliantly written. Vashti's skewed cultural norms ring true in a way that early scifi like this never does, and it reminded me of the really well thought out cultures in modern epic fantasy.

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Chilling short dystopian story by the author much better known for Room With a View and a Passage to India. In the far future, humans live isolated lives in small cells underground, their every want and need provided for by the Machine. A woman Vashti, loyal to the Machine, is disturbed by her alienated son Kuno's visit to the outside world. But then the world breaks down around them.

[glglgl_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh, was für interessanter früher Zukunftsroman (aus dem Jahr 1909)! Es ist ein kleine Dystopie, die vor der Entfremdung des Menschen und seiner Abhängigkeit von "der Maschine" warnt. Bemerkenswert ist die kaum antiquiert wirkende Sprache.

[bdgamer-669415 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So, I’d picked up The Machine Stops since a friend was raving about it the other day. The story was standard fare: humanity is dependent on a machine that lets them chat, watch and broadcast video and music, write blogs, aka the Internet. I wasn’t initially impressed, but then I saw the publication date: 1909.

Yes, Forster was writing about the Internet in 1909, more than a hundred years back. It was then that this part grabbed my attention:
“You talk as if a god had made the Machine," cried the other. "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that. Great men, but men. The Machine is much, but not everything.”
Reminds me of people who worship tech giants… and their smartphones. We now live a significant portion of our lives online, be it chatting with friends, watching cat videos, or even sharing photos. The Machine is here. The Machine is now.

Other than that, one thing that really struck me was the travel sequence. People are repulsed by others, disgusted by even the slightest human contact. I feel this is what we’re heading towards. There’s a lot of social commentary over here that is particularly relevant in this era.

[danielibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Considering this book was first published in 1909 it is clearly mentioning technology such as Skype, undersea cables, the Internet, etc. It just blew my mind how this all became reality right down to us living in a room connected to others solely by The Machine.

[infjsarah · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A short story mentioned on the BBC as reflecting our times despite being written over 100 years ago. And it is amazingly close to how our world has / is developing. Worth a read.

[petra5xs · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Prototype dystopia story that, after a hundred years, reads as freshly, as prescient as anything that has come since.