The Machine Stops Essay

In the 20th century, human beings have been able to enjoy technological advances as well as the disadvantages of technology that seemed unimaginable in previous centuries. Aldous Huxley’s novel, Brave New World, creates a utopian society that achieves happiness at the expense of humanity by contrasting the use of technology. This is a representation of a society trapped inside a world that is consumed and run by technology rather than individual thinking and feeling. The morals expressed throughout The World State society are not those of our society today, instead, The World State itself focuses around the idea of industry, economy, and technologic growth and improvement, this makes the inhabitants more concerned with what is on the outside instead of the inside. The contrasting world of Huxley makes the reader agree with the viewpoint that technology has created a world of individualism and consumption rather than a world that focuses on the sense of fulfillment. While technology can bring growth, it is also a form of destruction that strips away any form of happiness with psychotropic drugs, genetic engineering, and consumption that neglects a true sense of humanity.

Well- known Russian-American author, Ayn Rand, in her novella Anthem, describes a post-apocalyptic world in which individualism has been eradicated. Rand's purpose is to educate readers about the dangers of communism and to encourage readers to break out of the procrustean society while embracing the sense of self. She adopts a tone of pity for the majority of society while maintaining a tone of respect for the courageous two main characters in order to inform American readers about the benefits of capitalism over Communism. Similarly, English author, E.M. Forster, in his novella The Machine Stops, unveils a futuristic society in which all people are subordinate to the Machine. Forster’s purpose is to educate readers about the dangers of technology

As Billy Cox once stated, “Technology should improve your life...Not become your life.” This factual quote also applies to the theme of “The Veldt”, by Ray Bradbury. Technology should never be trusted and this short story very well proves this claim. It highlights the theme of preventing technology from overtaking the human society, and this is explained by the brilliant use of figurative language, such as imagery and personification. In “The Veldt,” ; the parents own a nursery that contains a machine. However, their children get attracted to the machine. Subsequently, the parents attempt to stop the children -before it’s too late-. Unfortunately, the children terminate their parents with the machine. The main reason

Different One Day; Same the Next Day Imagine a world where citizens depend on technology for everything. Citizens do not need companionship because technology provides it and citizens do not need to leave their homes because one button push provides anything that the outside world offers. The Technology dependent world is depicted through the dystopian short story “The Machine Stops.” “The Machine Stops” portrays a world where citizens do not leave their homes, the citizens have little human interaction, and the citizens depend solely on The Book for any question ever asked. “The Machine Stops” shows the downfall of a world that is too dependent upon technology.

For as long as humans have existed technology has played an integral role in the survival of our species. As mankind evolved from the refuge seeking hunter gatherers we once were to the global masters of change we are today, so did our tools. Our kin has managed to transform ordinary conductive materials into artificially intelligent computational platforms that are within a finger’s reach. All of that change has come with a cost. A society focused on constant technological progress has indirectly wreaked havoc on multiple balances ranging from diverse ecosystems to the human attention span. Stephen Vincent Benet imagines a dystopic world where humans are as dull as the machines around them in his poem “A Metropolitan Nightmare.”

Will humanity’s thirst for technological progress eventually lead to a dystopic era of regression where people surrender their freedom and values in exchange for electronics? Throughout history, literature has featured countless depictions of such a world; a world where the populace is enslaved by a power greater than themselves through the use of technology. In his science fiction short story “The Pedestrian,” Ray Bradbury; a reputable author, writes against the excessive dependence and drive that humanity has developed for technology. He expresses his outlook on technology and its systematic conjugation of humanity through the use of the protagonist's character, imagery, and atmosphere featured in the story. Ray Bradbury's story suggests

Within the last couple of decades, technology has become a huge part in everyone’s daily lives. Everyday we look at our phone almost every five minutes and when we get home we all hop on some other form of technology such as our computers or televisions. However, this is almost exactly what Aldous Huxley and Neil Postman fear. There are some truths and some falsehoods to the statements that Postman proposed such as the idea that we will begin to enjoy our oppression, we will be ruled by the very things that we love, and that we will eventually be thrown so many lies that we will seize to know what the truth is and we will be exploring both sides of these assertions.

The decisions of today will inevitably influence the future. Technological advancements, scientific discoveries, and politics are some driving forces that contribute to the fate of the human race. It lies on us to determine the future for our children, which is a critical decision not to be taken lightly. Based on our chosen path and modern technology, I suspect that our present will soon evolve into a dystopia, similar to the ones portrayed in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and in the motion picture of The Giver. The invention of Henry Ford’s assembly line and Model T encouraged Huxley to compose his novel and I believe that Google affirms his skepticism and concern, as it heavily influences peoples’ minds and habits. I am convinced that as time progresses alongside science and technology, people will eventually surrender their liberty and freedom of thought. This may lead to a totalitarian future, where people won’t have a mind of their own because of their reliance on technology.

Kurt Vonnegut gives a new turn to his innovative fiction and tries to create awareness to people about the things that harm human life and peace. He tries to present how human beings are made as slaves by the introduction of machines. Men become addicted to technology and they do not have the capacity to discriminate between what is real happiness and what is fantasy. They are filled with the fallacy that they have conquered many things and plan for what is yet to be conquered. But in reality the human race is conquered by technology and men are poorly defeated. Their defeat is yet to be noted or realized by them.

In E.M. Forster’s short story “The Machine Stops”, he portrays a dark dystopian society that is encapsulated by the Machine in which they all worship; this is analogous to society today being so attracted to technology. The story takes on a very dark and dull tone to help convey his purpose of pointing out that society is too dependant on technology. Forster develops his dystopian society by showing their social norms and what happens when the said technology fails them. He connects dystopian factors in the story to common day things. For example, he alludes to God, satirizes society’s dependence on technology, and shows the effects technology has had on humanity to help emphasize society’s reliance on technology.

Projections that have been made about how today’s society and culture will look in the coming years, decades, and centuries, all have yet to be seen in how valid they are. If you look in any sort of media: television, social media, or radio/music, you will see people giving their interpretations of what will become of our world down the road. Yet, few people look to see how our the current state of culture and society reflect the projections made by people in previous years, decades, and centuries. In looking at the visions of the future presented by both novelas, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, and The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster, each story presents aspects of society that prominently appear today. Written during the Industrial Revolution, a time where technology and human innovation was at one of its highest points in recent history, both stories explore the possible effects of the machinery that was becoming evermore present. Both authors present aspects such as omnipotent technology, decaying human independence, and destruction of real communication, to create the artistic statement that complacency is rising within the human race, and that complacency will eventually lead to the fall of mankind. In both stories, the authors speak against human complacency and deference to technology, warning that it will lead to the creation of weaker people and society that will ultimately destroy the human race, yet that complacency is present in today’s culture and due to the

Although modern society is dealing with issues such as race and gender, it has become much more accepting of a culture than Forster’s society of the early 1900s. Now the international community has become much more supportive of each others’ initiatives and has become an interconnected world. The imagined world of “The Machine Stops” has become unlikely to ever exist because humanity now has recognized the strengths of working as groups rather than individuals, a modern trend that has only recently emerged. Had people lacked a much needed response to the horrors of the world during the World Wars, modern society may very well have slid further into the mistrust and closed off world (clearly seen in the story as society had moved underground and everybody lived in hexagonal rooms) and become the dystopic society of the Machine. The short story was a very enjoyable piece, although as science fiction it lacks some necessary descriptions of devices, resorting to only simplistic tools that to current standards seem

In the story “The Machine Stop” by E.M Forster is about a human society lived their life in an underground civilization using a machine as the way of a society. In the story, the character Kuno try to inform her mom that the society they’re living is unsafe and toxic. However Kuno mother Vashti like most people ignore any criticism and belief the machine is ruining human society. Ultimately the machine would start show signs of weakness before it eventually collapse and ruined society. E.M Forster main purpose of writing this story is to warn people about advanced technology could destroy human society in the future and he was able to successfully distribute that in the

The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster touches upon a topic that has been advancing at different rates however, constantly throughout world history. The argument that technology has the power to take over human kind, has been a frightening thought to many. Forster creates the main character Vashti, who is extremely reliant on a machine that does just about everything for her. Some could consider the machine to be a slave, but because of Vashti’s conformity to the machine, in my opinion she can be considered to be the slave. Vashi throughout the novel demonstrates how the machine has positively and negatively had an impact on her life.

Even though technology in “The Machine Stops” and technology today have many differences, many characteristics are in common. The futuristic modern technology in “The Machine Stops is very dependable as well as modern day technology, except that in “The Machine Stops” everything is machine generated. Most people today communicate on the cell phone or text messages. Frequently, people may be contacted over video messages as well. In “The Machine Stops” the most common way to communicate is by pictures or video messages with little face to face contact. Technology used in both case scenarios is very reliant for humans. For example, humans rely on the internet to look up a question if we don’t know the answer. In “The Machine Stops”, they often did not have to ask questions because the technology already did it for them. In relation to the story, they refer to when the machine stops as a “technological death”, which we can relate to the same phrase in a way that if humans did not have the access to technological works, most of our world would not be able to function. People would struggle with communication with their families, difficulties to their jobs, and wouldn’t be aware of what was happening in the world.