The Machine Stops

Prototype dystopia story that, after a hundred years, reads as freshly, as prescient as anything that has come since. ( )

Ahead of time by a century. What a great imagination! ( )

Very good idea developed into a long story. Ending sort of grim though. Ahead of its time by a century. ( )

An interesting future vision of a time when people connect only via screens and wires, but otherwise live in complete isolation from one another. They become so dependent on the machine that they have built that they transform it into a deity, forget how to keep it running, and so are doomed when the machine finally breaks down. This is really more of an idea sketch than a story, as the characters are broad and the plot is thin. But considering the time at which this was written, Forster shows a remarkable prescience in imagining what could essentially be an extreme version of the Internet, and the dangers such technology poses. ( )

http://manybooks.net/pages/forstereother07machine_stops/0.html

Can't do anything ourselves.

http://freesf.blogspot.com/2008/03/machine-stops-e-m-forster.html

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