Category: Communications Lab

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

Communication, connection, sensibility, free will, these are the keywords that popped up in my mind after reading Forster’s sci-fi. Setting the background in an imagined, highly developed society, Forster conveys his idea of anti-utopia and inquiry into the human-machine relationship through two different ways — the fierce struggle of rebels like Kuno and the compliance of the mass like Vashti. On one hand, the advanced technology does free people from the pain of disease and bring convenience, but on the other hand, it also deprives people’s sense of the space and the capability of communication. In other words, although the living conditions on the material level seem to be better, the development of one’s free will is reversed. The mind is supposed to generate more meaningful and original thoughts, but the result is the opposite. The word “idea” is frequently mentioned in the story, but the valuation and definition of this word are manipulated by the big machine. In this case, although people are still communicating with each other, it doesn’t count as the real “communication” but just the transfer of information. The irony in this fiction is to see how human beings chase the development of technology for freedom and well being but end up imprison themselves in small cells physically and mentally.

It’s intriguing to find the inquiry into the relationship between human and machine in a sci-fi written one hundred years ago that echoes some of the relevant critics today. The prediction of the powerful control of the big machine parallels the fear and despair in a high-tech society depicted in Black Mirror. And the homogenization of objects and human beings, the lack of communication and the isolated individuals remind me of the world in 1984. What is in common in these works are the worries of human being controlled and not “being human” anymore. It’s the ability to think independently and exchange ideas through communication that differentiates us from other species. And the anxiety is there may be a decline in this ability due to the rapid development of technology. I think we don’t have to be as pessimistic as Forster does in this fiction, but it is a warning for us on the overdependence of the technology and the communication channels. Instead of focusing on the tool itself, we should pay more attention to the original thoughts conveyed through the tool. Is not the tool but people’s self-abandonment that brings human beings to the bad ending. We should keep that in mind — not before “the machine stops” but before the machine takes control of us.

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Week1: Response to E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops” – Cecilia Cai

This reading strikes me with its strong contrast between people’s peaceful and regular routine under the service of the Machine at the beginning, and the scene of total chaos and violence at the end when the Machine stops. I’m especially impressed by the struggle between humanity and the religion of the Machine that the reading depicts.

In this reading, people live under the surface of the earth and depend their lives on the Machine. It reminds me of the recent Chinese sci-fi movie “The Wandering Earth”, in which people also live undergrounds and are banned from visiting the earth’s surface unless having special working licenses, and the earth is powered by multiple huge engines around the globe. This common setting reflects the concern that human activities will exhaust the earth’s resources someday in the future, and that people will be both benefitting and suffering from their high-tech creations.

Different from the movie, where the underground world is built up and operate by humans, the one in the reading is under the charge of a humming Machine. There is a contrast between Vashti’s and Kuno’s attitude towards the Machine. The former, representing the majority, worships the Machine as a almighty “God” and is too fear to leave its control or violate its rules, while the latter, tired of the mechanic routine and driven by his strong curiosity about the outside world, is looking forward to a life without the Machine. It’s ironic that the Machine, enabling people to call and see each other whenever and wherever with the Virtual Reality technology, is at the same time distancing the relationships between them, and isolating individuals’ lives. Vashti often emphasizes the preciousness of her time, but all she do after getting up is connecting friends and attending or giving lectures through the Machine, even without leaving her armchair. It seems that the machine brings people closer, as they can see the virtual images of each other when making calls and talk to them as if face to face. But such technology at the same time deprive people’s desire to actually come out and communicate with each other in the fresh. Vashti seldom sees her son since he left, not even knowing the detail reasons and process of his moving to the other side of the earth. Moreover, the Book of the Machine forbids direct body contact undergrounds, and as Vashti expresses, there is not much different in seeing somebody virtually or in reality, which also accounts for her reluctance to travel to visit her son initially. I stopped and pondered as I read this part. Virtual reality breaks the time and space limits, and enriches our experiences, but it can never replace reality. We should be alerted when the majority of us are indulged in the virtual world created by technology and become unwilling to get out of our own safe-zones, because that is the time when the reality starts to fade.

There is another interesting idea expressed in the reading. The Book of the Machine serves as a Bible in that world, and the Machine is the God. Although Vashti denies trusting the Machine as a religion, she and many other people have already become its most pious followers. On the other hand, as Kuno mentions, the Machine is created by man, so are the rules. And thus, men are trapped by their creation. In the world of the Machine, people not only become more selfish and complacent, but also lose the passion to explore and improve, which inevitably leads to the stop of the Machine in the end. But the Machine should never be to blame, since it did nothing wrong other than regulates and serves people well. It is men who ruined their life with their own hands and minds. Extending to the popular topic of the threats of the AIs, it is also man rather than AI brains that we should worry about. Many Science Fictions today describe the future to be under the deployment of AIs, and humans are only tools of these super minds. But will the AIs evolve and develop their own minds that planning on turning against human? No one knows the answer, since no human can catch up with the speed of machine learning. However, I believe that AIs are just magnified human minds, which intensify the power of both the strengths and weaknesses of humanity. After all, AIs are lack of emotions. When AIs kill a man, it is not because they want to, but usually that removing him or her is the easiest way achieve certain goals, and they are programmed by man to pursue the highest efficiency. In many cases where men are troubled with their emotions and hesitate to balance the pros and cons of certain decision, AIs won’t, which leads to their so-called evilness. The world of Machine in the reading is lack of humanity, in that it eliminates the physically strong body at birth to maintain the order of that society. Is it that the Machine is plotting some scheme against humans and that it is preparing for it by removing those strong bodies? No, the Machine is created and programmed by people. When we are overwhelmed by greediness and desires, we want the most of everything, and tend to choose the easiest and quickest way. The Machine stands for an easy way of governance, in which athletics and explorers are not needed, and their existence are likely to bring disturbances. Kuno is a representation of such exception, who dares to break the rules. His role in the reading reminds me that troubles and hardness are necessary in our life, and can sometimes save us from blindness. Efficiency and easiness are not always the best, and thus we need to consider more comprehensively instead of making easy conclusions.

The stop of the Machine, which seems like a total disaster, is in fact the beginning of the fortune of the society.

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Week 1: Response to E.M Forster – Sebastian Lau (Chen)

A few thoughts that I had while reading the passage that I might not touch on in depth later on:

  • Everything being uniform/similar. “Rapid intercourse” (6) was mentioned where Shrewsbury and Pekin were so similar that there was no point in going from one place to the other. Seems to blame the fact that everything is so similar on the fact that there was so much ‘intercourse’ between them. Sounds like a commentary on how globalization makes the places that are part of the global network trend towards one template or model (e.g. globalized countries are arguably also becoming more Westernized)
  • Ideas are scarce, and therefore commodified. Vashti has to consider whether certain images give her any ideas which would be a weird thing to think outside of her world’s context. Her friends ask her if she has had any ideas, as if it’s a noteworthy occasion.
  • In my opinion the story is pretty blunt with what it’s trying to say. I’m going to assume that the person who wrote it was being intentionally blunt with their message. I think it works well in terms of making the reader feel somewhat uncomfortable. I would compare it to a movie called The Lobster, which, like the society in The Machine Stops, is very different than our society today. In the movie the dialogue is very stilted to emphasize the differences in our society and theirs. In terms of storytelling I don’t think The Machine Stops does a very good job of showing and not telling, but I guess one can assume that the heavy-handed descriptions are meant to hammer home how alien their society is.
  • Mending worms captured Kuno who tried to escape and killed another person. Could be seen as the Machine trying to fix the society by pruning those who are deemed as undesirable or dangerous.

Although there are many things to take away from the story, the one that stuck out to me the most is how efficiency and control has changed humanity. I guess I would compare it to another movie, Wall-E where the people on the space ship have become helpless without machines. In both The Machine Stops and Wall-E the people have pretty much everything at their fingertips. This eradicates the need for them to ever use any effort. For the people in Wall-E this makes them obese to the point where they can’t even walk, in The Machine Stops not only are people physically weak (not to the extent of the Wall-E people) but strong people are euthanized apparently because they won’t be able to fully enjoy their life without nature. Control is also another aspect of life which has dramatically changed in The Machine Stops. Vashti has had control over pretty much everything in her life. When she gets her food, when she goes to sleep, when she wants complete silence or not. When she doesn’t have control over her situation, like the light streaming through her broken blinds, she gets scared and acts almost like an animal.

I think there a ton of things to take away from The Machine Stops. Given that the story was published in 1909 E.M Forster most likely did not write the story as a commentary on modern society’s reliance and fascination with technology and the efficiency and control it provides. However, I do believe that he presents a dystopia that has come about as a result of society’s (today and in the past) desire to become more like a machine: efficient and able to control everything. As a result, we make everything more efficient at the cost of personality. Communication is a lot more convenient now, we can call people across the world with ease, but it’s not the same as being with them in person. Our goal to become more like a machine has come at the cost of our own humanity.  

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Week 1: Response to “The Machine Stops” By E.M. Forster – YaChi Chang

After reading The Machine Stops, the first thought that popped up in my mind was that E.M. Forster is such a great fortune teller, for everything he imagined back a century ago corresponds with what is happening currently. The Machine represents the prevailing internet in modern days. Generally, it seems that the whole story was written in an ironic tone. People bank too much on the Machine that they cannot feed themselves without all these buttons and mechanisms. At the very beginning of the story, Vashti was sitting in her armchair, with a great bunch of buttons around her. With a press, she could get everything she wanted, just as what we do today with our smartphones and the Internet.

Throughout the story, one scene that hits my nerve the most is when Vashti was talking with her son through the plate. Kuno, her son said, “I want to see you not through the machine.” This scene reminds me of those chatting application nowadays. With the help of internet, we can see whoever we want through videochat. Then we forget the true essence of getting along with other individuals face to face-emotion, which can hardly be felt through the screen. The internet, or the Machine, is indeed convenient. The only thing that matters in current society is that we use this tool “humanly”. Just as mentioned in the text, “man is the measure”. We should feel this world by ourselves, with the help of the Internet, rather than feel this world through it.

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Week 1: Response to E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops” – Tenielle Ellis

“The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forster displays a world ruled by technology, and life on surface Earth as nothing. More specifically, the author pinpoints two main character’s relationship: Kuno, and his mother — Vashti, to display the difference of opinion between heavily believing and relying on The Machine, and a curious but determined mind to fight the system and understand the “outside”. Some themes I picked up from this reading, was the imagery of the story and the dialogue to portray this message. It really made me as a reader fully intrigued and entangled in knowing what it is like to be living in a world that is predominately dictated by technology.

An underlying message could be that — being on our phones, laptops, and devices too much could literally “blind” us from seeing the world…what’s right in front of us. A metaphor that Forster used, was Vashti pulling down the blinds in the Air-Ship to avoid any type of light that Nature emits, as well as to avoid observing the different locations her and her fellow passengers were going over. Even the flight attendant was trying to advise her to close the blinds and stay focused on the journey provided by The Machines, instead of trying to gain more insight, perspectives, or ideas about the outside world. Another example, could be when the passenger next to her got so angry that she touched her, for touching others was sort of a taboo act. I can relate this Air-ship experience to my point: being on technology so much can literally blind you to the outside world, or reality.

Relating this back to my life, I know that when I’m in public using my phone, I make sure not really be bothering anyone, let alone touch them because not only am I engulfed in my social media, but so is the next person. Our heads are all down focused on this singular device that we worship so much (how Vashti and her other passengers did with The Machines) and we see nothing but this screen, there could possibly be no world outside of technology. However, if we allow technology to take over our full focus, it could potentially “kill” our perceptions, our dreams, and our ideas about everything.