For several centuries writers have been trying to prophesize future of mankind. The more the world is exposed to the influence of industrial and technological progress, the more spectacular prophecies are. For instance, in 1909 E.M. Forster wrote a short story The Machine Stops in which he predicted collapse of civilization due to extreme reliance on technology. At the beginning of twentieth century societies were developing very fast because of rapid industrialization. Telephones and cars, which were quick to assemble, were probably the greatest inventions that influenced society the most. A hundred years later, people continue to introduce state-of-the-art inventions that make lives of people comfortable. For example, internet, which went global in the late 1980s, has had a significant impact on the way how people communicate with each other. It seems that nowadays people became dependent on technology and it is already impossible to imagine what will happen to people if internet or some other inventions, such as cell phones, television, etc. suddenly stop functioning.
In this paper, I will write about social isolation, worship of technology and some other potential problems that may be caused by emergence of new technology. In second part of the paper, a short story The Machine Stops will be analyzed in more detail in order to show that E.M. Forster predicted some of the changes in human communication that might happen in the future. In his book he dramatizes influence of technology, but such exaggeration helps to draw readers’ attention to possible problems that may arise from extreme reliance on technology. It is clear that nowadays people have to find a proper balance between different forms of communication as well as make better use of technology.
Unfortunately, Forster did not specify the time period in which events of the story occur. However, one may read that people communicate by means of technology similarly to us. This is why this story seems so realistic. People use devices that remind of contemporary mobile gadgets which can send text messages or make video-calls. These devices also help to study and work. In the story, people do not have to go anywhere and spend all their time at home watching lectures and talking with friends. Forster writes that in the past “the civilization had mistaken the functions of the system, and had used it for bringing people to things, instead of for bringing things to people” (Forster 5), but technology corrected civilization’s mistake. In my opinion, some of such changes may be partly observed in today’s world and of course their influence on the society is yet to be discovered. We use internet for long-distance communication. Additionally, there is a possibility to use internet for purchases of products and services. Theoretically a person may live similarly to the people in the air-ship described in The Machine Stops.
Living in isolation may be harmful for a person. Social isolation is probably one of primary negative consequences of new technology. People may not socialize with one other offline as much as before and eventually become slaves of technology. Moreover, society became very fragmented and diversity of people with whom we communicate might have decreased. Finally, locally-based ties may become much weaker in the future. These are assumptions that require in-depth studying and for sure there are many people that think the opposite about the new technology: in the age of information and technology, electronic devices and internet make social lives and interactions between people better. People have new instruments for communication and distance is no longer an obstacle. Nevertheless, I think that there are a lot of lonely and unhappy people because of technology. People are too distracted by smart phones and other devices and do not have time for real and meaningful communication.
New technology may also lead to worship of technology and data which is very negative for society and human mankind. In the story The Machine Stops all citizens of the air ship do not believe in God. They are so dependent on technology that it totally controls their lives. We can observe that nowadays the same thing is happening to many people who are obsessive with technology. These people do not realize any more that critical thinking may help them live in harmony with the world much more than technology. Instead they have become anxious like Vashti in The Machine Stops. They use technology every day, but get little pleasure from it. Indeed when we look at the passers-by that do notice surroundings or visitors of restaurants that read something on their smart-phones instead of talking with their partners, we may come to the conclusion that many people use technology pointlessly.
In the future, influence of technology on people’s lives will only increase. We can often read news about smart homes, smart cities, self-driving cars, drone delivery services, robots at factories, etc. It looks like we already live in the world that is often described in sci-fi books. I think that technological progress should not be regarded as something negative, because it is the result of people’s creativity. Will humankind make use of technologies without causing negative societal transformations? This is good that nowadays there is a public debate concerning the use of technology. Hopefully, there will not be extremes that will lead to some serious negative consequences such as Haphephobia, the fear of touching or being touched, or Neophobia, the fear of anything new. Moreover, it is important to make sure that technology leads to removal of boundaries between different societies and contributes to popularization of traveling. People should experience new cultures and be tolerant toward other people that have different background and interests.
These and other negative consequences of technological progress were described by Forster in The Machine Stops. This story may serve as a warning to the people that rely too much on technology. In the The Machine Stops Forster writes that technology influences human bodies of people. People do not move very much, because they live in the cells and sit on the chair most of their time. There are no windows, because all living cells are located underground. Moreover, people do not like the sun light and are used to artificial lighting. If they need something, it will be delivered to them by means of various devices that are activated by means of the control panel with many knobs. One of the main characters of the story Kuno that wants to live differently finds it very difficult at first to overcome even short distances, but eventually he becomes physically stronger and is able to get outside the air-ship.
Next, Forster writes that technology may influence relationship between people. He writes that Vashti got so used to her lifestyle that it was very difficult for her to communicate with her rebellious son Kuno. He asked her to come to visit him, because he had a secret to tell her, but she did not want to travel. Moreover, she did not want to travel, because she could to talk to him via a blue optic plate designed for communication. When she finally arrived, Kuno told her that he violated the rules of the airship and went outside the air-ship without permission of the Machine. Vashti got angry, but did not sympathize with him. She said that he was “throwing civilization away” (Forster 12). She knew that he would be punished by the Machine. “If he did not die today, he would die tomorrow”, she thought being “ashamed at having borne such a son”. (Forster 14).
Forster intentionally depicts only two main characters - Vashti and her son Kuno – in order to show how dramatically human communication may change under the influence of technology. Vashti rejects the idea that there may be alternatives to the life in the airship. She does not doubt rightness of the existing order and importance of the Machine. As the result, she becomes a narrow-minded follower of ideology that eradicated all types of religion, individuality and creativity. She believes that her son and other people who do not respect the Machine’s rules must be punished with homelessness when “a victim is exposed to the air which kills him” (Forster 10). Yet it is obvious that everyone who stays in the airship is homeless, because he or she is totally dependent on the Machine which “is out of hand”. Vashti and other people believe that they grow spiritually when they listen to the lectures and communicate with each other. Nevertheless, Forster writes “Humanity, in its desire for comfort, had over-reached itselfProgress had come to mean the progress of the Machine” (Forster 11). In the airship people do not control anything and if something malfunctions they complain to the authorities. Moreover, people lost “sense of space” (Forster 11). They live in cells, but they do not put emphasis on what kind of a dwelling place they have. All objects including furniture are standardized and there is no possibility to change anything because alternations in the work of the Machine are difficult to implement.
A lot of attention in the story is given to the role of religion. The Machine abolished religion, but irrational belief did not disappear. Instead of God, people started to worship the Machine. “The Machine feeds us and clothes us and houses usin it we have our being. The Machine is the friend of ideas and the enemy of superstition” (Forster 19). This phrase was written on the first page of the Book of the Machine which replaced the Bible. For Vashti this is a very important book that she used to educate her son and later in many everyday situations. It seems that Vashti forgot that it was the people that created the Machine. She treats the Machine as something mysterious and reading the Book brings “the strange feeling of peace” to her and many other people (Forster 19). Kuno’s monologue describes the fallacy of the faith in the Machine:
“We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It has robbed us of the sense of space it has paralyzed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it The Machine proceeds — but not to our goal. We only exist as the blood corpuscles that course through its arteries, and if it could work without us, it would let us die” (Forster 15).
Only at the very end of the story when civilization is about to disappear Vashti realizes that he faith was self-deceptive. The machine was an artificial invention that had to stop functioning one day. People forgot about that and believed in its capacities too much.
So, the Machine may look like the triumph of technology, but in fact it is not able to have a universal effect on all people. Someone like Kuno became a rebel, but most people became fanatical slaves of technology making it a new religion and forgetting about the power of nature and human thought. As the result, technology could not exist further without creative people and in the end everyone faced a disaster bringing civilization to collapse. Hopefully, there were many people who already escaped the air-ship which means that humankind was not destroyed completely.
Personally, I find Forster’s reasoning very meaningful. He wrote The Machine Stops a long time ago and some of the issues that he raised are relevant nowadays. Without a doubt, new technology has a very large impact on all spheres of life. This impact will only grow taking into account the number of patents and new start-ups that are registered around the world every year. Therefore, it is of great importance not to forget that it is the human values that define how society is prearranged. One hundred years ago countries did not cope with the process of rapid industrialization and had to take part in the devastating World War I. Hopefully, nowadays new technology will help to resolve many societal problems that mounted up for many years. At this point in time, it is difficult to write of negative consequences of new technology, because there has been very little research concerning the impact of technology on people, religion, culture, etc. I think that Forster’s reasoning is too early to apply to the world we live in. We can observe a start of the new phase of technological progress. In my opinion, the world will become more interconnected and humanity will remain to be the basis of society. I hope technology will serve the people, not vice versa.
Works Cited
Forster, Edward Morgan. The Machine Stops. Oxford and Cambridge Review. November
1909. Web. 30 May 2016.
