<<< home | H79.2004 - Communications Lab | The Machine Stops

The Machine Stops is a somewhat humorous portrayal of human decadence and decay, as comfort and supposedly higher ideals take the place of the natural and humane.

While reading, and as the story unfolds, I found myself wondering, when are WE? Are we in past, on our way to an ominous future, or in fact in the midst of digital debasement and decay? How spoiled are we?

Telecommunication; lectures at ted.com: Ideas worth spreading; cars; airplanes; physical neglect of body; indeed we have all of these in bulk

But let me argue otherwise, instead of claiming that we are on the brink of doom and total destruction, that our minds have acceded themselves striving personal growth and unwittingly neglected our soul; that we have become so dependant of our machines to such an extent that without it, we are but whimpering helpless toddlers, unless otherwise dead – It is all true to some extent. But it has been true in many ways even back in 1909.

We have been dependent on machines and technology for a very long time, we have previously learned about the importance of the technology of writing and of how it has revolutionized our world by the words of the esteemed Walter J. Ong. Could we ever imagine living without it? Of course one might argue that the sudden demise of all writing utensils in the world won’t be as dramatic as that of the failure of all life support systems on the planet, which is why we often choose the later for our apocalyptic climax.

What I’m getting at, is that a Victorian aristocrat will also be worthless and probably dead if left without his servants, inheritance funds or estate. Any of us might find life outside of the system intolerable. We all fear homelessness, and it’s my guess that we always have been, and will be afraid to find ourselves outside our comfort zone. And yet we often do, step out of our bounds, for stories like this are built on our deeply rooted fear of helplessness in front of the inevitable, be it time, god or machine.