Response to E.M. Forster
When we imagine about the future, people can’t neglect the question that where we are going and whether there is an end. The sci-fi story The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster offers the answer of a catastrophe; and while it is the end of the life of an entire generation, it is not the end of humanity. This brings readers deep questions on technology-based life style and what is necessary for living as a human being.
The saddest element in this story is that people ditch the significance of living. They keep themselves alive in artificial cages where their basic needs are satisfied in a world with no reality. Being born and raised with the extreme dependence on the Machine, people lose senses and feelings, they forget the ways of communication, they even lose their natural rights to experience in real world. Although forms of interaction like talking and observing still exist, society has collapsed into isolated units. Without connection and communication, people are just flesh that consume resources. The point of humanity is lost.
The fall-down of the world and the hope held by Kuno in the end leaves readers a strong impact. It might be hard to visualize the destination when we first start the journey of machinery revolution, but it is a must to keep in mind that “Man is the measure”. Man should never forget senses and communications, or pass the bottom line that let go of the core of humanity. The world may be manipulated, but there will still be one last man standing for humanity, just like “scraps of the untainted sky” Kuno saw before they joined the history made up by dead lives.