Leon Eckert – Page 55 – IMA Documentation

February 12, 2019

Response to E.M. Forster “The Machine Stops” – Jiannan (Nan) Shi

E.M. Forster wrote “The Machine Stops” one hundred years ago, and we could see: people were still using “books,” and airships have not reached the space yet. Some scenes have already achieved in a different format for now: we now are able to communicate in voice and real-time video with a person from the other side of the world through the internet, just as how Vashti did with her son. We are now also able to attend a remote lecture thanks to the internet. Yes, this is a work of prediction with a high possibility of coming true, but with a tone of warning. We always regard the development of technology a “progression,” and thank the “advance of science” over and over again. But we seldom question do we really need these advancements, and where would the advancements lead us to.

In the story, this is a world where technology is so advanced that it serves human, helps human achieve goals that they can never think of. One only need to press buttons to get food, play music, take showers, attend lectures. “Thanks to the Machine,” it becomes an easy thing to fly across continents and overlook the Himalayas. Thanks to the Machine, interpersonal communication becomes real-time across different places. Vashti does not need to move even one step or raise her arm for one centimeter when she wants to act something: technology would help her, and serve her. All she needs to do is to provide ideas to herself and the community earth. We might never consider it a bad thing to have one assistant who could help us do all the tedious trifles, don’t we?

However, this is also a world where technology is so advanced that it controls human, and human has to adapt to this world in order to give way for technology development. The only connection between human and machine is “the book of the Machine,” and human has no other right but to obey what the book says about Machine. When Kuno wanted to be a father, he was refused because he was not “a type that the Machine desired to hand on.” Being muscular is a demerit, since “he would never have been happy in that state of life to which the Machine had called him.” Travel becomes few and few, because “thanks to the advance of science, the earth was exactly alike all over.”

No matter how the means, tools, or technologies of communication change, let’s leave some humanity sustained in the place you and I are living. I would strongly advocate for this statement, at least in my state of mind for now.

February 12, 2019

Reflection to “The Machine Stops”–Jannie Zhou

The Machine Stops by E.M.Forster presents us with a picture of how humans will live in the time of the Machine. And how the civilization collapses after the Machine stops. To me, the image of people living in the Machine time is absolutely absurd. People live underground, and everywhere is the same. Athletes were destroyed when borne, and there is no religion anymore. People hate touching each other, and they think strength and muscles are useless. But after thinking thoroughly about it, I found this path is exactly what we are heading. We talk through cellphones more, send text messages or facetime each other. But we face each other less. We invented machines to do things for us, both laborious work and tiniest trivia. But we seldom achieve our goals without the help of machines anymore. We created VR to help us see the world in our armchair. But we go out of the world and expose us to nature less. We became dependent on machines without realizing.

In the context of communication, I take the happening of this phenomenon as a result of not communicating with each other. Nowadays, when in public places, we would prefer to be on our phones than talking to the people around you. Instead of communicating with each other, we communicate with the machines. And we stopped to communicate with nature too. We think we could duplicate nature so that it would save us time to do our work. But when we are using VR or things like that, we are not communicating with nature. We are communicating with the machine. Will the machine take over and destroy our civilization in the future? I don’t know. But I believe that if we continue what we are doing now without realizing the brutal fact hiding underneath, we will only alienate each other and distance ourselves with the world.

February 12, 2019

“The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forester – Madison Eberhardt

E.M. Forsters, “The Machine Stops,” is about a futuristic society in which is controlled by a type of god called, “the Machine.” In the beginning, I believed this “machine” was just the object that Vashti was living in, but then it was Vashti’s whole world, a god in which she would call to in times of need and even would quote from. It can also be noted that it is capitalized and has its own book that is very important to Vashti, as it quotes, “This was the Book of the Machine.” (4) I was wondering whether this book acted more as a bible or like a manual for these futuristic individuals. One aspect that really stood out to me while reading is how Vashti constantly was repeating, “I have no ideas here” even when she was. For example, when she discovers all the beautiful geography below her on the trip to see her son, she continues to persuade herself that no ideas of her own would come of seeing the earth. The machine has completely destroyed the once unique and natural world, leaving its people powerless in its control. They are in belief that safety, happiness, or comfort, is all because of what the machine has provided for them.

Reading how Vashti and Kuno live alongside “the machine” in which has completely taken control over the ideas, lives, and communication of the world, one can compare this to today’s society with the internet and technology. Without both of these advancements today, society would no longer be able to function normally. Our generation is one of the first to grow up with so much access to tech & communication, we are already seeing how disconnected it is making us. Just like how in “The Machine Stops” once the machine stops working, the entire society collapses, I wonder if this has any relation to what could happen if our technology or internet completely stopped working. How would society function? Would individuals simply give up or work to connect back together again?

February 12, 2019

Thomas Waugh – The Machine Stops

“The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forester tells of a dystopian future where every human lives in isolation from one another, each living in their own box, separated from the rest of society. As a result, communication becomes much less real and becomes more of a hassle than the pleasure it previously was. The people, as a result, begin to worship the Machine as a god to them, even though it was humans who created the Machine in the first place. It is also important to note that even though humans created the Machine, the Machine rules supreme over the people and can even banish humans from their rooms onto the uninhabitable face of the earth. While this is an exaggeration which presumably takes place many, many years in the future, it mimics some of the trends that we can see in today’s society.

Nowadays, I do not go anywhere without my phone. I need my phone to look at memes, I need my phone to listen to music, I need my phone to check my homework, I need my phone to make phone calls. I say I NEED my phone, but deep down I know that that’s not true. There was once a time in my life, a simpler time, when I didn’t have a phone and the world kept turning. However, as society progresses along with technology, having the latest technology as to not be obsolete is becoming a must. People nowadays have created an environment that is impossible to function without subscribing to modern technology, and that’s our fault. As beneficial as the modern cell phone is, it can very easily be argued that there are an equal amount of disadvantages. For example, just like in “The Machine Stops,” I would say that with the advent of the internet and instantaneous communication the quality of communication has fallen drastically. Far too often I find myself sending messages with absolutely no purpose or just scrolling through a mundane Instagram feed full of boring pictures and sub-par memes. However, I do not see this trend slowing down one bit. Phones are becoming more and more powerful with every update, every new release, each one another nail in the coffin of true human interaction. Is there a point where eventually we are all living in a reality not unlike that of “The Machine Stops?” Will we all spend all day hooked up to VR headsets communicating with one another through a stream of silly emojis? That still remains to be seen, but if I were to make a prediction, based on my opinion of humans and the way the world is going — I would say yes, and that’s a very scary thing.

February 12, 2019

Week 1: Response to “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forster – Taylah Bland

Throughout the piece “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forster, the general discourse pertains to establishing a societal climate riddled with interesting perceptions of priority. The piece in the initial pages sets out the reliance that humanity has developed with technology. For example, it is stated “she knew several thousand people, in certain directions human intercourse had advanced enormously” (1). This example speaks to the power of communication and its rapid development has had expansive consequences on the ways in which we interact and with how many people at a time. Technology has now become an ‘absolute’ in the piece, whereby individuals are no longer able to speak ill about machinery in fear of “homelessness” (10) as evidenced in “you mustn’t say anything against the Machine” (2) (further note the capitalization on Machine, just like God in the succeeding sentence). We begin to see the discrediting of the natural world as everything is likened to man – seemingly placing mankind in a position of power, dominance as they create machinery. It seems as if individuals happiness depends on the presence of buttons in order to provide food, clothing, water and music for convenience.

What I noticed throughout the remainder of the piece, and what struck me was that individuals on the airship were foreign to the natural occurrences of the world such as rising of dawn and the stars in the sky. Instead of being beautiful natural phenomenon, these phenomena instead became feared and hated. This thought is applied to the way in which natural places like Brisbane and the Himalayas are no longer recognizable with their “unmechanical names” (9).

What gave me some sort of hope for humanities restoration, or rather change in priority was the persona of Kuno who states “it is we who are dying, and that down here the only thing that really lives is the Machine” (15).

The take away from the piece to me and what made me think was that this could be a social commentary being made on a prediction for what our life will become if we continue our technological dependence. The attendant on the flight states “we have indeed advanced, thanks to the Machine” (9) but have we really advanced? We have lost human connection, care, regard for others, natural landscapes and appreciation for natural beauty. The collapsing of the ‘world’ at the end of the piece provides both a nihilistic and optimistic approach. One in which we rid ourselves of a mechanical world but now are left to potentially reconnect with the world we turned such a distrust towards. Advancement is certainly the question but I am not entirely sure that yes is the answer.