"The Machine Stops" is a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

E. M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author. He is best known for his novels, particularly '' A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910) and '' A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous shor ...

. After initial publication in ''

The Oxford and Cambridge Review Charles Granville (born Charles Hosken in Helston, Cornwall, 1867) was an English book publisher, publishing in the 1900s and early 1910s as Stephen Swift or Stephen Swift Ltd. He published two literary magazines, the ''Oxford and Cambridge Revie ...

'' (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster's '' The Eternal Moment and Other Stories'' in 1928. After being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965, it was included that same year in the popular anthology ''Modern Short Stories''. In 1973 it was also included in '' The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two''. The story, set in a world where humanity lives underground and relies on a giant machine to provide its needs, predicted technologies similar to

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and the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

Background

In the preface to his ''Collected Short Stories'' (1947), Forster wrote that "The Machine Stops" was intended as a rebuttal to one of the "earlier heavens" of

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

"; specifically his quasi-novel, '' A Modern Utopia'', published in 1905. In contrast to Wells's political commentary, Forster points to the technology itself as the ultimate controlling force.

Plot summary

The story describes a world in which most of the human population has lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual now lives in isolation below ground in a standard room, with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Travel is permitted but is unpopular and rarely necessary. Communication is made via a kind of instant messaging/video conferencing machine with which people conduct their only activity: the sharing of ideas and what passes for knowledge. The two main characters, Vashti and her son Kuno, live on opposite sides of the world. Vashti is content with her life, which, like most inhabitants of the world, she spends producing and endlessly discussing second-hand 'ideas'. Her son Kuno, however, is a sensualist and a rebel. He persuades a reluctant Vashti to endure the journey (and the resultant unwelcome personal interaction) to his room. There, he tells her of his disenchantment with the sanitised, mechanical world. He confides to her that he has visited the surface of the Earth without permission and that he saw other humans living outside the world of the Machine. However, the Machine recaptures him, and he is threatened with 'Homelessness': expulsion from the underground environment and presumed death. Vashti, however, dismisses her son's concerns as dangerous madness and returns to her part of the world. As time passes, and Vashti continues the routine of her daily life, there are two important developments. First, individuals are no longer permitted use of the respirators which are needed to visit the Earth's surface. Most welcome this development, as they are sceptical and fearful of first-hand experience and of those who desire it. Secondly, "Mechanism", a kind of religion, is established in which the Machine is the object of worship. 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 threatened with Homelessness. The Mending Apparatus—the system charged with repairing defects that appear in the Machine proper—has also failed by this time, but concerns about this are dismissed in the context of the supposed omnipotence of the Machine itself. During this time, Kuno is transferred to a room near Vashti's. He comes to believe that the Machine is breaking down and tells her cryptically "The Machine stops." Vashti continues with her life, but eventually defects begin to appear in the Machine. At first, humans accept the deteriorations as the whim of the Machine, to which they are now wholly subservient, but the situation continues to deteriorate as the knowledge of how to repair the Machine has been lost. Finally, the Machine collapses, bringing 'civilization' down with it. Kuno comes to Vashti's ruined room. Before they both perish, they realise that humanity and its connection to the natural world are what truly matters, and that it will fall to the surface-dwellers who still exist to rebuild the human race and to prevent the mistake of the Machine from being repeated.

Themes

The main theme of the story is the danger that humanity faces when it becomes overly reliant on technology for its survival; a less obvious, though equally important theme is what Forster refers to as "the sin against the body." This occurs when people's intellectual refinement and spirituality advance to such a point that they become disconnected from their physical bodies and are unable to adapt to changing environments.

Critical reception

The ''Fantasy Book Review'' calls ''The Machine Stops'' "dystopic and quite brilliant," noting, "In such a short novel ''The Machine Stops'' holds more horror than any number of gothic ghost stories. Everybody should read it, and consider how far we may go ourselves down the road of technological 'advancement' and forget what it truly means to be alive;" rating the story as 10 out of 10. As well as Forster predicting globalisation, the Internet, video conferencing and other aspects of 21st-century reality,

Will Gompertz William Edward Gompertz (born 1965) is an English journalist, author and art critic. He was formerly the BBC's arts editor before moving to a position as the Barbican Centre's Artistic Director from 1 June 2021. Family and education Gompertz ...

, writing on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

website on 30 May 2020, observed, "'The Machine Stops' is not simply prescient; it is a jaw-droppingly, gob-smackingly, breathtakingly accurate literary description of lockdown life in 2020." In 2010, ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'' magazine's Randy Alfred wrote, "1909: E.M. Forster publishes 'The Machine Stops,' a chilling tale of a futuristic information-oriented society that grinds to a bloody halt, literally. Some aspects of the story no longer seem so distant in the future."

Adaptations

* A television adaptation, directed by

Philip Saville Philip Saville (28 October 1927 – 22 December 2016) was a British director, screenwriter and former actor whose career lasted half a century. The British Film Institute's Screenonline website described Saville as "one of Britain's most prolifi ...

, was shown in the UK on 6 October 1966 as part of the second series of British science-fiction anthology TV series ''

Out of the Unknown ''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction and horror anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were dramatisations of s ...

''. It is one of only four episodes known to exist from the show's second series. * In 2001,

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

aired

Gregory Norminton Gregory Norminton (born 1976) is an English novelist. Born in Berkshire and educated at Wellington College, he read English at Regent's Park College, Oxford and studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He is a Senior Le ...

's adaptation as a radio play. Another radio adaptation, by

Philip Franks Philip Franks (born 2 February 1956) is an English actor and director, known to the public chiefly for his roles in English television series, such as '' The Darling Buds of May'' and '' Heartbeat''. Early life Franks was born on 2 February 19 ...

, aired on Radio 4 on 19 June 2022. * Playwright Eric Coble's 2004 stage adaptation was broadcast on 16 November 2007 on WCPN 90.3 FM in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio. * ''TMS: The Machine Stops'' is a graphic novel series adaptation written by Michael Lent with art by Marc Rene, published by Alterna Comics in February 2014. * Playwright Neil Duffield's adaptation was staged at

York Theatre Royal York Theatre Royal is a theatre in St Leonard's Place, in York, England, which dates back to 1744. The theatre currently seats 750 people. Whilst the theatre is traditionally a proscenium theatre, it was reconfigured for a season in 2011 to off ...

in May–June 2016.

Related works

* '' Mad'' #1 (Oct–Nov 1952) featured "Blobs", a seven-page story drawn by

Wallace Wood Wallace may refer to: People * Clan Wallace in Scotland * Wallace (given name) * Wallace (surname) * Wallace (footballer, born 1986), full name Wallace Fernando Pereira, Brazilian football left-back * Wallace (footballer, born 1987), full name ...

where two inhabitants of 1,000,000 AD discuss the history of man and his evolution into "blobs" totally dependent on the Machine. * Stephen Baxter's story "Glass Earth Inc.", which refers explicitly to "The Machine Stops", is included in the book ''

Phase Space The phase space of a physical system is the set of all possible physical states of the system when described by a given parameterization. Each possible state corresponds uniquely to a point in the phase space. For mechanical systems, the p ...

'', published in 2003. *

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

's second novel in the ''Robot'' Series, ''

The Naked Sun ''The Naked Sun'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, the second in his ''Robot'' series. Like its predecessor, '' The Caves of Steel'', this is a whodunit story. It was first published in book form in 1957 after being ...

'' (1957), takes place on a planet similar to the Earth seen in this story. On the Planet Solaria, human colonists live isolated from one another, only viewing each other through holograms, and only have interactions with their robot retinues. After several centuries, the humans have become so dependent on this practice it has become taboo to even be in the presence of another human being. * The song "

The Machine Stops "The Machine Stops" is a science fiction short story by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in ''The Oxford and Cambridge Review'' (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster's '' The Eternal Moment and Other Stories'' in 1928. A ...

" by the band

Level 42 Level 42 are an English jazz-funk band formed on the Isle of Wight in 1979. They had a number of UK and worldwide hits during the 1980s and 1990s. Their highest-charting single in the UK was " Lessons in Love", which reached number three on th ...

not only shares the same title with the story but also has lyrics that echo Kuno's thoughts. * The band A Hope for Home based their song "The Machine Stops" on their album

Realis A realis mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentences. Most ...

on this story by Forster. * Both George Lucas's film ''

THX 1138 ''THX 1138'' is a 1971 American social science fiction film co-written and directed by George Lucas in his feature directorial debut. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and co-written by Walter Murch, the film stars Robert Duvall and Donald Pl ...

'' (1971) and the original novel version of ''

Logan's Run ''Logan's Run'' is a science fiction novel by American writers William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, the novel depicts a dystopic Malthusian future society in which both population and the consumption of resources ...

'' (1967) by William F. Nolan and

George Clayton Johnson George Clayton Johnson (July 10, 1929 – December 25, 2015) was an American science fiction writer, who co-wrote with William F. Nolan the novel '' Logan's Run'', the basis for the MGM 1976 film. He also wrote television scripts for ''The Tw ...

bear similarities to "The Machine Stops". * The space rock band

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

released a concept album titled ''

'' in 2016 based on the story by Forster.

References

External links

* * *
The Machine Stops and Other Stories by E. M. Forster, Rod Mengham
Online text via Goodreads {{DEFAULTSORT:Machine Stops, The Dystopian literature Plays by Eric Coble 1909 short stories Religion in science fiction British short stories Short stories by E. M. Forster Science fiction short stories Works originally published in British magazines Works originally published in literary magazines Constable & Co. books Fictional computers