The Machine Stops
The Machine Stops
Free DownloadThe 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. --Wikipedia
Book Excerpt
Inside, her anxiety increased. The arrangements were old-fashioned and rough. There was even a female attendant, to whom she would have to announce her wants during the voyage. Of course a revolving platform ran the length of the boat, but she was expected to walk from it to her cabin. Some cabins were better than others, and she did not get the best. She thought the attendant had been unfair, and spasms of rage shook her. The glass valves had closed, she could not go back. She saw, at the end of the vestibule, the lift in which she had ascended going quietly up and down, empty. Beneath those corridors of shining tiles were rooms, tier below tier, reaching far into the earth, and in each room there sat a human being, eating, or sleeping, or producing ideas. And buried deep in the hive was her own room. Vashti was afraid.
"O Machine!" she murmured, and caressed her Book, and was comforted.
Then the sides of the vestibule seemed to melt together, as do the passages that we see in dreams, the l
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Readers reviews
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Read this in college and loved it. I was going to the computer lab at 2am to run my stack of computer cards* so I would only wait in a line of a hundred students vs a thousand. Did I put 2 and 2 together? No. That's why I have yet to win a Nobel prize.
* computer cards: letter-sized post cards with holes punched in them - the holes allowed a pattern to be read by the computer, which sat in the basement, the entire basement).
* computer cards: letter-sized post cards with holes punched in them - the holes allowed a pattern to be read by the computer, which sat in the basement, the entire basement).
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As this short story begins it seems more pertinant to us now than it could ever have been before. It fortells the computer age astonishingly accurately.
The story beyond that is interesting and certainly atmospheric. A decent read while you have your lunch.
The story beyond that is interesting and certainly atmospheric. A decent read while you have your lunch.
09/11/2012
As the previous reviewers have said, it's a spooky story which is very relevant and very true today. It's hard to comprehend that it was written so long ago, before the internet and social media of today. I really enjoyed it. While there were similarieties to Anthem (Ayn Rand), I found it more realistic even in its strangeness. What would we do if the internet went down, how would we survive now we have become so dependant upon it? Highly recommended!!
07/27/2012
Wow. Excellent prediction by Forster and it is unbelievable that he was able to see this decadence in human social development, even in 1909.
Well. We have almost reached that stage. Mom talking to kids far away through facebook and skype is a reality. People do not have time to see friends and they prefer talking to them through social media. We no longer move out most of the time. Soon we will all be 'lumps of flesh' in hexagonal cubicles.
Humans. Wake up from this disastrous nightmare. Fight net addiction. Let us all meet real people in real time in the good old fasioned way.
Well. We have almost reached that stage. Mom talking to kids far away through facebook and skype is a reality. People do not have time to see friends and they prefer talking to them through social media. We no longer move out most of the time. Soon we will all be 'lumps of flesh' in hexagonal cubicles.
Humans. Wake up from this disastrous nightmare. Fight net addiction. Let us all meet real people in real time in the good old fasioned way.
07/19/2012
This story was quite unnerving. I can see elements of this happening already in our society. Interestingly enough there was a Star Trek episode that had parallels to this story.
Although I had to read this story three or four times to fully appreciate it's implications, it is a story we must all take to heart.
Although I had to read this story three or four times to fully appreciate it's implications, it is a story we must all take to heart.
07/17/2012
This short story, without a doubt, is worth a 5 star rating! Written in in the early 20th century, it is hauntingly prophetic of today's times, and for that reason leaves the reader with quite a chill! Download it now.
06/10/2012
Required reading in Eng Lit class in high school in 1956. It made such an impression on me and I think of it often when I think of our dependence on computers in this age of technology. We are losing our ability to have alternatives when one system breaks down. Should be required reading for ALL high school students!!
09/08/2011
Shades of Ayn Rand, from 1909.
07/06/2011
Our English teacher provided this book for our class in the 60\'s and we spent some time discussing the issues raised. Not required reading at the time but it should have been. It may not have wonderful prose or structure, but it provides an insight to the concerns of the possible consequense of the pace of change the Edwardians had just begun to guess at before WW1.
07/04/2011
Considering that this story was written in 1909, it's amazingly prophetic. I can see us getting to this point. Good story, easy reading. I recommend.
12/14/2010
