We donāt think things as they are, we see things as we are. Vashti is a typical human being that passively and subconsciously accept all the environment, rules, religion that imposed upon her. This story, on the perspective of Vashti, is a story of reborn, of civilization, of the process how Vashti finally realized the real truth of the world. Yet on the perspective of the relationship between the machine and humans, a message of warning was delivered—-a world controlled by technology will eventually turn catastrophic for the human race.
The first thing that impresses me are two facets of conflicts: first the setting of characters. Heroes Kuno and Vashti stand in opposite position on the view of the machine. Kuno is an experimentalist and life critique, questioning the existence of the world ruled by the machine; while Vashti is a conventionalist, obedient to the rules imposed upon her and accept the environment setting. On another facet, the geographic setting of this story. Underground and above ground metaphorically suggest a sealed world without real truth, and the world with genuineness. This setting is quite similar to The Matrix, and the choice between the red pill or the blue one remains as an unsolvable question. I used to interview Prof.Astrada about the matrix in law. As the supreme courtās researcher working for the academics half of his life, he sees law as merely a tool employed by and for the service of the authority. In this regard, people can never acquire real protection on their rights. Yet many people still believe law is a powerful thing to get all their rights under cover. But is this recognition of truth a good thing? It really depends. From my point of view, Prof. Astrada is not as happy as those who trust the government and believe in law, even if he always insist he never regrets for learning about the truth of the world. The same logic applies to the story. Can we say Vashtiās final arousal a success of liberty? Not really. When the scar is uncovered, the one who uncovers it has to bear with the brought consequence.
Another thing relates to the relationship between human beings and machine. I always had the question when I read the story: how the world in the story gradually evolves into the one Kuno and Vashti live in? I mean, what specific mechanisms, both psychological and physical, drive the direction of social development? The answer to this question may in part make us clearer about our correct attitude towards the machines in real world. I recognize two mechanisms: first, the religion/worship of something. In history, people can rule the world because we can have a common belief: this can be a religion, a belief in the government, or even a belief as small as getting up at 6 oāclock. These consensus aggregate human beings and keep the brutal āstate of natureā in stability. A wrong belief on machine builds the wrong world in āMachine Stopsā, leading to the ultimate catastrophic situation: the blind worship that machine can do everything for human being, and hence is the god. Hence, to prevent todayās world (which is at the risk of being ātaken overā by machines), there should always be voices and belief-holding that human beings, are the species that control the world. Machine plays an inferior role for the service of human beings. Another mechanism that draws to the current state in the story is human nature: laziness, arrogance and cowardice. We will feel annoyed at accepting new concepts, will not change our views instantly if we being challenged, and get rid of possible rebel and conflicts as much as possible. When the first mechanism is triggered, people can hardly jump out of the loop and accept the new things again, even they are true. Of course, in the story, Kuno pioneered to be the one that guides Vashti learn about the truth. But in the real world, how many of us can be Kuno, who is willing to step outside and see what the world looks like?