Amidst an extremely gripping short story, Forster illuminates a very real conundrum that our society could one day face. The people living in the world of the Machine are deprived of human interaction, an experience they do not seem to miss. Forster describes this world where each individual lives in a honeycomb shaped cubicle where all interaction is done through the Machine. Vashti has complied with all the beliefs that the Machine has instilled onto the people, agreeing that public gatherings are “clumsy” preferring they be replaced by the functions of the Machine. The Machine is filling the void of human connection as described when Kuno isolates himself by leaving his conversation with Vashti. After this Vashti was lonely and needed to see “the light, and the sight of her room, [that] flooded with radiance and [was] studded with electric buttons, [to] revive her.” What I was not able to express in our class discussion was the prominent lack of desire to interact with other humans. Overall, I found that the lack of human interaction in this short story to be hauntingly accurate to the world we live in. Today, some are satisfied by their 500 Facebook friends and do not care for the five real friends they have in their life. As the lack of interest in a physical friendship or connection was clear throughout the short story, I found the ending to be even more touching when Kuno kisses Vashti. Even though this lack of contact is a reality we are living in, the kiss shows that we still long for some sense of personal connection.