Category: Communications Lab

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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. 

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

After reading and analyzing E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”, I came to the conclusion that the short story was about the danger of knowledge and technology, as well as the importance of humanity in an advancing civilization. However, more importantly, I believe The Machine spoken about in the story has an uncanny yet strong relation to the modern internet. The way The Machine takes in ideas from people and spreads those ideas through a filter is very similar to how the modern internet operates today. Us humans, through code and websites, can upload ideas into the internet, and other humans can access those ideas. In theory, this amalgamation of information should be a positive for the ever advancing human race, but like with The Machine, there are hidden issues. Humanities increased dependence on the internet has begun to mirror the dependence that humans in “The Machine Stops” has on The Machine. Smart Homes like the Google Assistant and Siri are virtual AI that can turn on the lights in our house or start the microwave or even welcome you home. Those functions are eerily similar to how in “The Machine Stops”, The Machine generates beds and food. In addition, humans now are sometimes more interested to talking to a screen than talking in person, similar to how in short story, Vashti can’t see a reason why speaking through the machine is any different that speaking in person. All these reasons I previously mentioned are only a few of the many comparisons that can be made between the internet and The Machine. Through my analysis, I believe E.M Forster’s “The Machine Stops” is a realistic yet pessimistic view of how the internet could eventually take over our lives.

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Week 1: Response to “The Machine Stops” – Jikai Zheng

“The Machine Stops,” the dystopic, futuristic story by E. M. Foster wrangles my mind into a knot. On one hand, this fictional piece has many unrealistic qualities, such as human’s incapability to live on the surface of earth. However, in contrast, the underlying concept of a machine that occupies human worship is far too real. The machine, to some extent, resembles our humanity’s addiction to technology. Indeed, the two main characters of this story, Vashti and her son, Kuno, have differing opinions on the necessity, power, and appliance of the machine. While Vashti views the machine as a flawless piece of man’s invention, Kuno is more suspicious of its facilities, stating, “its hum penetrates our blood, and may even guide our thoughts” (13).

I was reminded of the climatic statement, “The Machine stops” (same as the title) in section 3. In the denouement of this story, I begin to realize that Foster may have intended readers to leave with the same sense of suspicion to technology as Kuno had, or at least a measured amount of caution towards channels of communication that diminish the human experience.

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The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster- Evan Xie

After thoroughly reading “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forster, I immediately thought of a recurring topic that the short story directly related to Communication Lab: the existence of technology overpowering the existence of humans. Kuno struggled to maintain a human relationship with his mother Vashti simply as a result of the Machine becoming something that people rely on in all aspects of their lives. I felt that the way the author described the relationship between Kuno and Vashti was incredibly mindful as they used realistic human scenarios connecting to the dangers of technology. While I originally thought that the Machine sounded like an incredible benefit to humans, I quickly realized the author’s intention to show the Machine as a God-like figure that had replaced true human ways of life. By choosing to capitalize “Machine,” I personally viewed the Machine itself as more of a religious or sacred object rather than an actual Machine. Despite the purpose of the Machine to make human functions such as communication easier, when reading through the story, I feel that Vashti and Kuno relied on the Machine too heavily. As a result, I saw this as a similar situation to modern day technology as both Vashti and Kuno forget how to act as humans due to their reliance on the Machine. Similarly to humans in today’s society, we often immediately jump to our phones, computers, or whatever electronic devices we have in hopes of making our day to day communication easier. However, like Kuno and Vashti, too often do we wait until it is too late before realizing the dangers of technology as well as the benefits. Once the Machine is finally destroyed, Kuno and Vashti are freed from its imprisonment. However, their inability to separate true human interaction from technological interaction made me think of everything we as humans are doing today. While advanced programs and devices help us in amazing ways, I feel that it is quite easy to fall into a black hole like Kuno and Vashti’s society. I feel that the story demonstrates issues that may be presented as fictional, but in reality, relate to humans and technology today more than ever. Most of all, I viewed the story as both a message and a lesson. We cannot and should not abuse the privileges of rapidly improving technology. While it makes communicating easier,  I feel that it is important to be aware of situations like Kuno and Vashti’s. Therefore, I view technology as beneficial to create works of art and aid basic functions, but also feel that we should not rely on it in replacing our actions as human beings. 

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Reflection on The-Machine-Stops – Ziying Wang (Jamie)

While reading the first 2 episodes of this fiction, I was wondering about “the ideas” Vashti keeps bringing up. As a lecturer herself, Vashti comes up with ideas inside her machine, without communicating with creatures or natural creations, but she keeps stressing “there are no ideas” when she sees or hears nature. Section 3 mentions in Vashti’s mind, people should learn about “what I think that ” great people think, projecting “the ideas” are no more than what these so-called “advanced people” generate from what the machine chooses to present them with. The machine, the supreme leader, the god of this world, maintains the order of this underground society by restraining the humanity intercourse, in a way it is easier to control, but in another, it degrades people. This system reminds me of the book The Giver, in which the residents are born without feelings, every what we consider as normal human interaction is made into rules or even jobs (giving birth, for example). This system indeed simplifies governing process, for the minds of people are consolidated, but without noticing it themselves, human beings are becoming puppets of the system (in this case, the machine). “The ideas” Vashti considered free-will are planted into her mind beforehand.

This fiction from over 100 years ago projects a similar scenario nowadays. Here, we have the Internet as the machine. Desire communication? There’s no need to head outside, a simple Facetime solves the problem. There’s no denying that the Internet is essential for us and most of us wouldn’t survive a day without it, but judging from the extreme case in the fiction The Machine Stops, we are getting too dependent on the Internet. Think about the time you lost for exercising outdoors just because you got yourself a new iPhone. Put laziness aside, the power of mind control from the Internet can’t be neglected, how many of us are judging others just through online sources? We are not able to examine the authenticity of every source before bring out our “ideas”. The filter bubbles online are just like the knowledge the machine chooses to present the residents with, we are trapped in the filter bubbles created by our browsers every second. Yes, it simplifies our process of getting to the websites that interest us the most, but in that case, our mind can never go beyond the bubbles, we, who still think we are free-minded, are nowhere better than the residents in the machine whom we laugh at.