El150: The Machine Stops

E.M. Forster "The Machine Stops"

Forster's short story from 1909 was not only excellent, it was a little creepy. After reading it, I came away with two striking images that sadly apply to my own life.

The first is found in section 1, where Forster is establishing how humanity will live in the future, thanks to The Machine. Vashanti, the main character, does what most humans of the future do: "...she fed, talked to many friends, had a bath, talked again, and summoned her bed" all within the comfort of her room. She hated leaving her room, and didn't see the purpose in it as she had everything she needed in there. She had no use for face to face contact.

Unfortunately, there are days when I do the same exact thing at school. My dorm room often becomes her hexagonal room filled with machinery and a standard-sized bed ("for beds were of the same dimension all over the world"). After my classes are over, I retreat to my room, brew some coffee, instant message my friends, read books, instant message some more, and go to bed. My roommates and I often IM each other, even though there is just a slender wall between us. They call to me to come see something on their computer screens, but I refuse to move from my wheely chair. It's quite pathetic, but thankfully it doesn't happen too often.

The second image I found was in section 3 (Homelessness). After Kuno calls his mother and tells her about the Machine stopping, people begin to notice that things are slowly going awry. The music that Vashanti listens to begins to stutter and skip, the lights begin to fade, and the people just begin to adapt and accept the problems.

I couldn't help but find this very similar to the situation most Windows users find themselves in. I know, I've experienced the same sorts of things back when I owned a PC. Little things start going wrong, like specific games don't run correctly, or Windows Media Player starts crashing, and the user just accepts it. You don't go out and replace your computer, instead you just chug along, accepting the fact that for no reason the computer is growing slow and tired. Your music starts skipping, movies don't play correctly, and the internet seems to be dying in front of your eyes. Eventually the whole thing collapses in on itself and you are presented with the Blue Screen of death. Forster pretty much hit the future right on the head!

I really liked this piece, and I think I appreciated it even more because of when it was written.