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I read the original "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster way back in 1909, a few weeks back, following a link from this very website. It's worth a read! http:/

I read the original "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster way back in 1909, a few weeks back, following a link from this very website. It's worth a read! http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/prajlich/forster.html http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/prajlich/forster.html EDIT: Looks like that link is a little overloaded right now... This one works: https://www.ele.uri.edu/faculty/vetter/Other-stuff/The-Machine-Stops.pdf https://www.ele.uri.edu/faculty/vetter/Other-stuff/The-Machi...

chongli 8y ago
I clicked the New Yorker link, hoping it would be the Forster classic. I was a little bit disappointed. Thanks for finding these links. The original short story is breathtaking for both its foresight and salience. It belongs with those titans of dystopia, 1984 and Brave New World. In some ways, it is perhaps even more relevant to today's world, given the rise of all encompassing distributed computing juggernauts like Google and Facebook. These systems have gotten so big and so complex, it seems beyond the capability of any individual to rein them in.
johnhattan 8y ago
There's a good free audiobook version on librivox.org
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  https://librivox.org/the-machine-stops-by-e-m-forster/ https://librivox.org/the-machine-stops-by-e-m-forster/
- interfixus 8y ago
  I for one am slightly underwhelmed by the irony of seeing "audiobook" in this particular context.
  - fao_ 8y ago
    Audiobooks are useful for people who are blind, people who are severely dyslexic, or people with NVD (non-verbal learning disorder), who are capable of processing sound fine, but might have difficulty processing text. I fail to see how it's ironic, given that the original story was about a button-pressing utopia. The utopia wasn't so simplistic and purile as people having things read to them, or watching movies instead of reading, but instead, people refused to do proper research, trusting written accounts from people several times removed from the original texts, like some obscene all-encompassing version of 'telephone'. People who were, ultimately, afraid of curiosity.
Quequau 8y ago
I used to have a acquaintance who was a construction worker. Nice enough guy but limited by his lack of education and from time to time something would happen that would make it clear that he'd have a better time in life if he'd venture past the high school diploma and family vocation. One time he was working in an old house and found a very old mimeographed copy of that story hidden in the walls. He took this to suggest that the story or the author were somehow subversive or secret and became really motivated to read it. It is the only thing I'd ever known him to read, much less seen him at it with my own eyes. I think for him that was like an unlikely collection of perfect circumstances because he loved the story and his experiences around it. I suspect in his mind he had been exposed to some sort of forbidden knowledge and that pleased him greatly.

chongli 8y ago

I clicked the New Yorker link, hoping it would be the Forster classic. I was a little bit disappointed. Thanks for finding these links. The original short story is breathtaking for both its foresight and salience. It belongs with those titans of dystopia, 1984 and Brave New World. In some ways, it is perhaps even more relevant to today's world, given the rise of all encompassing distributed computing juggernauts like Google and Facebook. These systems have gotten so big and so complex, it seems beyond the capability of any individual to rein them in.

johnhattan 8y ago

There's a good free audiobook version on librivox.org

toomuchtodo 8y ago
https://librivox.org/the-machine-stops-by-e-m-forster/ https://librivox.org/the-machine-stops-by-e-m-forster/
interfixus 8y ago
I for one am slightly underwhelmed by the irony of seeing "audiobook" in this particular context.
- fao_ 8y ago
  Audiobooks are useful for people who are blind, people who are severely dyslexic, or people with NVD (non-verbal learning disorder), who are capable of processing sound fine, but might have difficulty processing text. I fail to see how it's ironic, given that the original story was about a button-pressing utopia. The utopia wasn't so simplistic and purile as people having things read to them, or watching movies instead of reading, but instead, people refused to do proper research, trusting written accounts from people several times removed from the original texts, like some obscene all-encompassing version of 'telephone'. People who were, ultimately, afraid of curiosity.

Quequau 8y ago

I used to have a acquaintance who was a construction worker. Nice enough guy but limited by his lack of education and from time to time something would happen that would make it clear that he'd have a better time in life if he'd venture past the high school diploma and family vocation. One time he was working in an old house and found a very old mimeographed copy of that story hidden in the walls. He took this to suggest that the story or the author were somehow subversive or secret and became really motivated to read it. It is the only thing I'd ever known him to read, much less seen him at it with my own eyes. I think for him that was like an unlikely collection of perfect circumstances because he loved the story and his experiences around it. I suspect in his mind he had been exposed to some sort of forbidden knowledge and that pleased him greatly.