Category: Communications Lab

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Response to E.M. Forster—Kimmy Tanchay

In the short story, “The Machine Stops”, Foster conveys the dystopian future of a “machine”-controlled world where any spare human thought or essence is heavily discouraged. Told in a third person narrative and follows the characters of Vashti and Kuno, the story heavily suggests the detrimental effects on the human race when the power of technology becomes uncontrollable.

Although the Machine was able to save the human race as a species, the characteristics, such as morals, thoughts, emotions, real interactions and ideas, that make human beings human has been lost in the process. The capitalisation of the “Machine” conveys the significant presence of technology amongst the lives of human beings that it has become more than a mere object. In this world, human beings not only conform to the rules dictated upon them by the Machine, but they also refuse to criticise or go against it with Vashti stating, “Oh hush! You mustn’t say anything against the machine.” () Hence, further showing the power of the Machine and foreshadowing its destructive nature as it is able to spark fear in humans despite machines being created by us. This perhaps may allude to symbolism for human being’s current relationship with religion or even strong political government censorship such as in China.

In the end, the Machine Stops provides a foreshadowing of the dangers on the over-reliance of machines and technology to human beings. This is extremely relevant in a time when digital media and technology has quickly taken over and integrated into many of our daily lives that we often fail to remember how to live without them. 

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Response to E.M. Forster—Angel Yang

“The Machine Stops” is a novel which mainly describes the possible consequences of extreme industrialization. Machines take complete control of life. People live underground and interact with each other entirely electronically. One day the machine stopped working and the whole human society fell apart. The author satirized many phenomena in society by imagining the future. At the beginning there is a sentence writes “ She knew several thousand people, in certain directions human intercourse had advanced enormously.” It seems that the machines make the social contact more convenient to connect us all together, but actually to the contrary, a phenomenon is analyzed by the author that modern people are increasingly dependent on science and technology which has created a non-necessity for direct interpersonal communication. So instead of connecting us the machines actually make every one of us more isolated.

When things come to the relationship between humans and machine, the arguments never stop. In the story, the machines feed humans, cloth humans, house humans and make humans see as well as hear from each other. Humans, in return, think of machines as something sacred as religion. If the machines stop, humans will die. It’s a tragedy that humans have forgotten that it is themselves that create the machines. They forget that they create the machines to do their will but in the end, they have to compromise with the machine. I think behind the story, the key idea the author wants us to know is “ Man is the measure”.

After reading the article, look back on our daily life. Our life is full of high technology and algorithm which make our life become monotonous. Is it really what we want in the beginning? Will the physical and mental deterioration happen like the plot of the story? In this era of rapid technological progress, maybe it’s time to reconsider the relationship between humans and machine. Be the master of the machine, not the slave.

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Week 1: Response to “The Machine Stops” by E.M.Foster – Khaliun Dorjderem

In “The Machine Stops” by E.M.Foster, Vashti, who is completely adapted to the machine dominated world, talks to Kuno, who wishes to leave without these machines, through the use of machine. It reminded me of how I FaceTime with my mother who lives thousands of miles away from me, and I was afraid by the possible changes in the world described in the reading. It is a prediction of the future, but seeing us today, how much we rely on technology, I thought that prediction has a possibility to take place in real life soon. 

Even today, we are so used to smartphones that most of us will refuse to give up using that technology. We do everything with our smartphones, we communicate with each other through internet, we play online games when we’re bored, and we even order food when we’re hungry. It is just like the buttons we press to satisfy our needs in the little room described in the reading.

Seeing the similarities between the reading and real life today concerns me that the percentage of our future becoming like the reading is much more higher today than when it was written. I can’t imagine the world where we won’t talk face to face, where we only communicate through the use of machine, and where we can’t do anything without the help of machines.

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E.M. Foster’s “The Machine Stops” _ April Qiu

In the article “The Machine Stops”, E.M. Forster presents a science-fictional world that relies on an enormous machine. People live in their rooms with everything provided. They have no need to go out. All the rooms are the same over the world. People keep in touch with each other through the machine. They don’t interact with others face to face anymore. Each human being is isolated. The civilization in this world is a system that “bringing things to people”, rather than “bringing people to things”.

There are two characters in this article. They are the mother Vashti and the son Kuno. Vashti is very adapted to this world and enjoys her life in the machine. I found that she is extremely indifferent with everything, even with herself. When her son asks her to see him, she thinks it’s a waste of time to travel. When she is in the air-ship, all the views outside the window are “no ideas” to her. When her friend is granted Euthanasia, she doesn’t mind. She even asks for Euthanasia herself after an unsuccessful lecture. Also, she always emphasizes on “civilization”. She has superstition on the Machine. She spontaneously gives up her gifts as a human, like the ability to observe, think, and love, but choose to rely on the Machine. I can see no humanity in this character. I think E.M. Forster means to show the alienation of people under the influence of the Machine through Vashti, but I don’t think E.M. Forster is criticizing these people. I feel that he sympathizes on them through the sentence “ever since her birth she had been surrounded by the steady hum”. How could we blame them if they’ve never experience silence? They are born and raised in that inhumane way. They are pathetic people, but not bad people.

Kuno, on the opposite, represents those who still have humanity inside. He is brave and curious. He raises an important point that “man is the measure”. I believe this is what E.M Forster trying to argue.

After reading this article, I feel that “the Machine” does not only refer to the technology, but also refers to a government or any other system. The Machine is like an authority. People invent technological products to improve their lives. People support a government to lead them. The authority or the system is what the people make of it. However, people may be controlled by it little by little involuntarily. I find that it is really easy for people to adapt to an environment. Because of this, it is so important for us to keep in mind that “man is the measure”. When we are in a society or even only interacting with others, we are always adapting ourselves. In this kind of process, we should always keep our ability to think and make our own decisions. We should never lose our humanities. A civilization without humanity will eventually collapse, like the Machine in the article. People without humanities inside will hard to live on once what they rely on falls, like Vashti.

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“The Machine Stops” – Bonnie Chan

Its only been three days since I’ve arrived in Shanghai, but the use of QR codes and technology show a shocking similarity to the society described by Forester.  The experiences of the physical world through physical sensations will soon be nuances and disregarded elements of physical reality. The idea that text messages and phone calls now become mediums that strengthen the relationships between individuals rather than the physical experiences and memories that are made together. Our society has reached a point where pixels have replaced the presence of an individual and the basic societal norms pre-technology is now dismissed. The physical five senses that is the basis of memories and experiences is no longer needed. The imperfections of the world are no longer enjoyed. Instead, individuals prefer the beauty of a man made reality that will yield to any preferences they have. Curiosity and creativity that had fueled our society to progress at the fast pace it had will soon be diminished by the technology that is so readily available to us.

Our need to share perspectives and ideas will then become nonexistent as the Internet becomes a place where all information can be found. Information and arguments that are now given are often simply other’s thoughts taken from the Internet. Our own contributions to different perspectives are no longer made, as different physical experiences don’t create distinct individual memories that fuel each person’s unique opinions. The machine that has been a submissive aid will soon become the very thing individuals yield and accommodate for. We often forget that the basis of the universe and physical reality is comprised of the physical things that we disregard. Soon, our digital society will make us forget to take a look at the very things that had made the development of technology possible. A society that had been a hodgepodge of cultures and perspectives will soon transform into a monotonous society governed by machines. Would we still remember what it was like before technology if machines were to stop now..? Would our society come to a halt as we readjust ourselves and return to the roots of our world? Perhaps that is what we need in order to create a powerful collaboration between technology and physical reality in order to gain the most benefits from both sides of the spectrum.