The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster Review

The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster Review

This is a chilling short story about what happens if humans become too dependent on technology. For being a short story written in 1909, its vision was pretty accurate. Humankind isolated from one another (only connected by a "computer"). In the world described by Forster, the mind has finally triumph over the body. This sounds peachy, except that if your baby is born too strong... he is slain!! In Forster futuristic world, all that matters is a weak body that is adapted to the sedentary, machine driven lifestyle of this new world. It sounds cruel, it sounds logical!! Religion is no more. All that matter is cold logic.

Our main character is an old School teacher. Her son Kuno was born a bit stronger than the others. He was having an existential crisis because he was not chosen to mate. Kuno wanted a child badly. However, he had to content himself with his meditation on "The Machine". Kuno one days calls his mother (he wanted to see her in the flesh. This was unusual because the last time she held him was at birth) and tells her that he had gone outside. Outside the Machine that keeps all humans all over the world connected there lives humans in the natural world. Kuno met these humans. They where stronger, like us. He told his mother about his experience outside. She was shocked and distressed at her son's audacity. She realized that this was due to the fact her boy was too strong to live in the Machine.

Shacking her mother's concerns, he spoke to her about the first time he realized that the machine made a sound (You known HuMMMMMMM). It makes sense. I stop hearing after a while repetitive sounds. In any case, Kuno noticed the sound of The Machine after hearing something else for a change. Anyhow, some time passed and The Cult of the Machine came about. People started carrying around the manual (aka The Book) of the Machine as if it was a Bible. To make matters worse, the Machine started malfunctioning. Kuno who still went to the outside (he stayed on top of the ventilation vents because he could not breathe the outside air) notice that the Maintenance Machine was broken. It was only a matter of time until The Machine Stops.

The story ends with the death of the main character. In her last days, the Machine Stops. Due to humans over dependance on the Machine they could not survive without it. "The Book" did not account for the eventuality of Maintenance Machine's demise. It worked well for thousands of years while those Machines kept the Main Machine working. Now, all humanity is dying. In the chaos that followed the destruction of the Machine, Kuno and his mother reunite in the flesh once more. With their arms around each other, they watched as the Machine gave its last breath. The fake white sky finally opened revealing the stars that humanity for so long ignored.

As they started to die, Kuno's mother wondered if mankind had learned its lesson. Kuno reaffirmed her that they had. The End!! Well, the moral lesson is that one should not be too overdependent on the Machine. In the end, the humans that inherited the earth were those that disdained the Machine the first time it was built. They lived outside the Machine, waiting for it to die. Well, the modern equivalent of this situation is the Matrix. In any case, this short story by Forster deserves 5 star rating. Its hard to believe that a Futuristic story like this was written in the 1909. Bummer...