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=                         The_Machine_Stops                          =
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                            Introduction
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"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. 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 instant messaging and the Internet.


                             Background
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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"; 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
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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
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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
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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,
writing on the BBC 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' 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
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* A television adaptation, directed by Philip Saville, 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'. It is one of
only four episodes known to exist from the show's second series.
* In 2001, BBC Radio 4 aired Gregory Norminton's adaptation as a radio
play. Another radio adaptation, by Philip Franks, 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, 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 in May-June 2016.


                           Related works
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* 'Mad' #1 (Oct-Nov 1952) featured "Blobs", a seven-page story drawn
by Wallace Wood 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',
published in 2003.
*Isaac Asimov's second novel in the 'Robot' Series, 'The Naked Sun'
(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" by the band Level 42 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 on this story by Forster.
* Both George Lucas's film 'THX 1138' (1971) and the original novel
version of 'Logan's Run' (1967) by William F. Nolan and George Clayton
Johnson bear similarities to "The Machine Stops".
* The space rock band Hawkwind released a concept album titled 'The
Machine Stops' in 2016 based on the story by Forster.


                              See also
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* 1909 in science fiction


                          Further reading
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* Seegert, Alf (2010),
"[http://ojs.unbc.ca/index.php/joe/article/view/98/269 Technology and
the Fleshly Interface in E. M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops']",
'Journal of Ecocriticism' 2: 1.
*
* Pordzik, Ralph. 2010.
[http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/english_literature_in_transition/v053/53.1.pordzik.pdf
Closet fantasies and the future of desire in E. M. Forster's "The
Machine Stops"]. 'English Literature in Transition 1880-1920' 53, No.
1 (Winter): 54-74.
*[https://www.slideshare.net/DoctorSequoia/the-machine-stops-77020537
Wally Wood's version for 'Mad Magazine', 1952]


                           External links
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*
*
*

*[https://www.goodreads.com/ebooks/download/135676.The_Machine_Stops_and_Other_Stories
The Machine Stops and Other Stories by E. M. Forster, Rod Mengham]
Online text via Goodreads


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