I found ‘The Machine Stops’ by E.M. Forster an extremely interesting short story and it’s left me with a lot to think about. I’m often very critical of science fiction as I think sometimes the authors excitement to express scientific ideas takes away from the actual narration of the story but I found this story extremely enjoyable both as a work of fiction and a work of science fiction and human observation.

While I found Forster’s argument about the danger of decadence extremely persuasive I can’t help thinking that it was all a bit too simple. The story was set under the assumption that the large majority of human beings had been entirely accepting of all the changes in their lives and had let themselves get to the point where the machine ran their lives and they no longer had any choice in anything they did. I think, looking back over the history of human behaviour, that this is not a very realistic situation. It is not in human nature to be complacent. We have countless examples of revolutions, uprisings, the entire structure of democracy, of fighting to make the world a better place.  What sets human beings aside from animals is that we don’t let ourselves be pushed around, we fight and when society notices something that is bringing it down it rebels against it. I think it’s unrealistic to think that everyone just sat by while the machine took over, that no one tried to fight against it.

I think most of us read this story and feared that the world could potentially be headed in the direction that Forster predicted, but it is precisely that fear that is going to save human kind from the future he foresaw.