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In this prescient dystopian novella, E.M. Forster imagines a future where humanity lives underground, entirely dependent on a vast, all-encompassing Machine that controls every aspect of life. As people become more isolated and detached from the natural world, one man begins... Read Full Overview

A must-read for all science fiction fans. "Above her, beneath her, and around her, the Machine hummed eternally; she did not notice the noise for she had been born with it in her ears." The Machine Stops by English author E. M. Forster is a classic science fiction short story... Read Full Overview

In this short science fiction story, Forster 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... Read Full Overview

In our modern era, we like to congratulate ourselves for our sophistication, knowing that we have doubtless created a world that our feckless ancestors could never have imagined. Actually reading the works of those ancestors would disabuse us of any such notion, and E. M... Read Full Overview

E.M. Forster's prescient and renowned short story of a future in which humanity has developed a catastrophic dependence upon a life-controlling, world-organizing machine: The Machine. In the future, most of humanity lives underground. People reside in individual rooms, communicating... Read Full Overview

'"You talk as if a god had made the Machine," cried the other. "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that."'

First published in 1909, E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops" is a fascinating story of dystopic science fiction which has been heralded as one of the greatest of the twentieth century. The tale is set in a vague future time when humans are no longer able to live on the surface... Read Full Overview

The Machine Stops

"The Machine Stops" is a science fiction short story (12,300 words) 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... Read Full Overview

"The 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... Read Full Overview

"The Machine Stops" describes a world of the future in which humans all remain in their cubicles while all their needs are met by a supercomputer called "The Machine." They communicate with each other and attend "online" classes and meetings through the Machine, and people... Read Full Overview

"The Machine Stops" describes a world of the future in which humans all remain in their cubicles while all their needs are met by a supercomputer called "The Machine." They communicate with each other and attend "online" classes and meetings through the Machine, and people... Read Full Overview

The 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... Read Full Overview