The Machine Stops

The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster, 1909

I have read about this short story for a while now and have finally found the time to read or, more appropriately, listened to it. I stumbled onto a mp3 version that I could listen to during work. Although if I had known how short the story actually was I would have perhaps put more effort into finding a written version. Truthfully, it shouldn't take more than an hour of attentive reading to finish this off.

I digress.

I was very taken by the amount of drama, especially in contrast to the seemingly lack of traditional plot. The message was as clear as the story was brief however. And in the end I found myself like the small geek at the beach party in the Labatt Blue Light commercial exclaiming how "we have to fight back against technology before it takes over the world!"

Forster was far before his time when he wrote about the encroachment of technology into our daily lives. And since then there have been numerous replications of his dramatic story in both written word and video. It was such a video that alerted me first to this story from a link over at BLDGBLOG to a short video of the same title by the Freise Brothers. Definitely worth a look.

Image from the Freise Brothers video, The Machine Stops

Perhaps after some people who happen to find this blog and who have happened to read to book, or have been intrigued enough to listen to the story read to them we may have a further discussion about the merits of the story and its increasing relevance to modern society.