The Machine Stops by E.M Forester is a dystopian short story that centers around the human reliance of what our protagonist and others in that universe calls, the machine. In this fictional piece, human civilization has reached a sense of utopia. Every aspect of human life from entertainment to basic necessity has been managed by the machine. While the machine may be beneficial to these humans, the short story also goes into depth of the shortcomings regarding human society in general. One of those shortcomings centered around the lack of human touch and physical contact. The society in The Machine Stops has progressed to the point where holographic communications between two people are possible. While holographic projections of humans may seem to be the pinnacle of communication, not all seem to enjoy this medium to communicate. The protagonist’s son states “I hear something like you through this telephone, but I do not hear you.” In this brief exchange between the protagonist and her son, we can see how her son is dissatisfied by this medium. He wants to see her mother in person in order to have that personal interaction. The fact that while this was written in 1906, E.M Forester was able predict problems that modern day society face today. Currently, the digital age has progressed our ways of communication but at the same time has left people more lonely than over. A research has been done to show how the youth of today have far less social skills compared to older generations. The problem is attributed to consumption of a media such as phones or computers. Another interesting part of that dystopian society is the social norm to not come in physical contact with one another. For example, the flight attendant was ridiculed when she made physical contact with our protagonist in order to help her when she tripped. While the scenario of a stigma of physical touch is an extreme case, this shows how far human interaction can be removed as a society such as the one in The Machine Stops as communication becomes more revolved around technology and between two humans face to face.
Week 1- Response to readings (Sara)
I found the talk, Anti-Fashion : A Manifesto for the Next Decade, by Li Edelkoort super interesting and eye opening. First of all, I loved her outfit. One of the first points she mentioned was that “fashion industry is old fashioned”. She mentioned how student studying fashion design think the only way to become successful in the industry is to become a catwalk designer, and she pointed out teachers should point out the importance of designing everyday clothes. This makes a lot of sense to me as people will wear the every day clothes so it should be more important to design those than something for a show. She also pointed out that no one, the designers, consumers or students know a lot about textile and she suggest textile research should be also emphasized in academia. Some of the large fashion brands already recognized this and are opening research departments. This is also really important for finding sustainable materials. She mentioned some cheap brands that sell their clothes cheaper than a sandwich and which, in her opinion, should be regulated in Europe by introducing a minimum price. One other thing I also found really interesting in her talk is that she said more should be invested in men’s fashion as today’s men are more interested in fashion and their lifestyle has changed a lot in the past century. One other thing she pointed out was the trend for “non fashion” which is the idea that many people nowadays don’t have to dress up for work , or don’t have time. These two could be interesting target groups for the final project.
In the article, Slow Fashion: An Invitation for Systems Change, the author, Kate Fletcher talks about the idea of “slow fashion”. In the past decades, just like fast food, fast fashion appeared. Clothing is produced in mass quantities and sold for very cheap price around the world. They are often produced in developed countries and sold in the west for a few euros or dollars, just like Li Edelkoort said, “cheaper than a sandwich”. Many started to realize that this is not sustainable in the long term because fast fashion effects many people and the environment. Clothes are thrown away very quick because they lost their value. When McDonalds opened in Rome, a bunch of Italians started a movement, called the “Slow Food Movement” that means not only the rejection of eating cheap and unhealthy food but also the rejection of large-scale, mass-production business models. Similarly, in fashion the term, “slow fashion” understood as products that are “less fast”. I often read in magazines how a woman should always have a little black dress that can be worn any time for many years because it is classic and does not really go out of style. ( And probably no one will notice if you wear it twice). However, “slow fashion” is not only that. Slow fashion products are produced and sold with a different business model. The author mentions that economic and social practices have to be part of the fashion debate. “The challenge for us all is to model and influence the overall regulating fashion system to promote balance accompanied by richness across economic, social, and ecological systems as a whole”
Reflection on The Machine Stops by E.M. Foster—— By Steve Sun
Reflection on The Machine Stops by E.M. Foster
The fiction describes a dystopian future of human race that the machines took the control over the world. The human in that fictional world lived underground separately in chambers where all their needs were fulfilled by the buttons on the walls. The people spent their whole life in the chambers and their thoughts were generated in it. As a result over many years the people below the surface began to change and worship the machine. The transportation to the surface of the earth and between humans were not banned but no one saw any need in doing such thing. The main character of the fiction are Vashti who was consent with her life in the chamber and her son Kuno who has always challenged the authority of the Machine. The story follows the two of them as they struggle to keep their relationship in this world.
I do agree with a lot of people who have read this fiction that the theme of this story lies in that a world which depend itself solely on the technology and “Machines” will definitely end up catastrophically for human, which in this case is that the machine stops working and collapsed, along with the humans in it. But I think that it’s not only the physical body of the human were destroyed, but also the thought of human were controlled. People living in the chambers simply believe that the environment on surface of the earth is too hostile to live and simply deny the fact that there were indeed people living on it. People who challenge the authority of the Machine will be seen as ‘unmechanical’ and threatened with Homelessness. And what’s more tragic is that the fact that the human fears the Machine was initially created by human rather than by machine itself. It’s the human who created the machine, it’s also human who are satisfied with their lives imprisoned in the machine and the interaction cut by machine, and its also human who gradually depend their whole life on machine and see them as their god. While machines just followed the things that they are programmed to do, or to some extend, they did nothing, but by doing nothing they controlled human who were meant to control. How ironic.
Response to Kate Fletcher and Li Edelkoort – Jennifer Cheung
Fast fashion is embedded in our consumer culture so deeply that we many times forget to recognize and thus underestimate its effects on people and the planet. The culture to look presentable at all times and adhere to constantly changing trends has made the majority of people dependent on fast fashion. Social media and attention to celebrities has made the masses eager to follow the most current trends in order to stay relevant.
According to Fletcher, the introduction of fast food in Rome undermined the important traditions of family eating and authentic regional cuisine. Similarly, fast fashion’s ever changing styles and low quality materials take away from fashion’s significance because garments are so easily exchanged, replaced, and thrown away. New styles don’t carry weight or authenticity because in just a few weeks, they’ll be seen as obsolete. Thus, the art of designing and creating fashion garments is undermined. Edelkoort similarly compares fast fashion to food items, remarking that despite the labor and design effort put into a piece of clothing, the costs sometimes still remain under the price of a sandwich consumed within minutes. When consumers can pay for a shirt in pocket change, how can people involved in designing, constructing, and distributing be properly compensated?
Fletcher states that slow fashion cannot change the current practices within the fashion industry if it is taken superficially. Slow fashion can’t be seen as another trend of marketing tool, because so many people are currently affected and oppressed by the dominance of fast fashion. However, it will be a difficult transition to the spread of slow fashion. Fast fashion is indeed superficial in the way it constantly changes, but millions of people are not capable of supporting slow fashion because of money restrictions. Slow fashion’s high prices make it inaccessible to a large consumer group who cannot afford to spend a chunk of their paycheck on clothes. People may say that investing in a pricier sustainable garment will make the cost worth it in the long run, but many people already wear the same fast fashion garments for long periods in order to save money, just as they would with a pricier piece. Fast fashion is definitely a detrimental force, but slow fashion needs to become available to everyone in order for it to take full effect.
Edelkoort states that men’s fashion is growing because they are currently raising more children and thus becoming more sensitive and elegant. However, fathers can’t be the only participants in men’s fashion. Raising children doesn’t necessarily lead to more fashionable taste, so I believe that Edelkoort is attributing the growth of men’s fashion to a too specific demographic. In addition, she says that men and women’s fashion should not be in the same runway show because the women’s designs upstage the men’s. I believe that instead of having to separate the two, men’s designs should become as diverse and free flowing as women’s designs are. Despite these, I appreciated Edelkoort’s tribute to powerful women and her encouragement of the success of women within a male dominated industry.
Week 1: Response to “The Machine Stops” by E.M.Forster- Milly (Yumin Cai)
“The Machine Stops” shows us a highly developed mechanical era where humans live in the small, underground rooms with all kinds of buttons and switches to meet their life demands. People use the visual “round plate” (1) to communicate with each other and get engaged in social activities. Illness would be cured by medical machines while long-distance trip would be easily managed by giant airships… Machines become the dominant role of humans’ life. Meanwhile, humans also get used to living with the machines, however, feel strange to directly interact with each other.
This is a contradictory and ironic civilization, human beings create the machines, however, worship these machines as if they were gods. Humans are gradually blinded to the real world, deprived their living ability and eventually become a foolish slave to the machine system. As a result, when the machines stop operating in the end, human society is stuck in disorder and panic.
Though this story is written down 100 years ago, the situation it described still shares a lot of similarities with our life nowadays: video chat, the automatical machine system, online communication taking place of face-to-face talk…Just like Kuno says “its hum penetrates our blood, and may even guide our thoughts” (13). It is also the time for us to think about the relationship between humanity and machine in our life: does our mind truly follow the technology? Should we set an ethical line for the development of the technology?