“The Machine Stops” ends on a heavily marked criticism. Its narrator narrates the ultimate irony of humanity’s demise within “The Machine Stop”’s universe through omnipotent, bible-esque language.
“And heavenly it had been for so long as man could shed it at will and live by the essence that is his soul, and the essence, equally divine, that is his body. The sin against the body--it was for that they wept in chief; the centuries of wrong against the muscles and the nerves, and those five portals by which we can alone apprehend--glozing it over with talk of evolution, until the body was white pap, the home of ideas as colorless, last sloshy stirrings of a spirit that had grasped the stars.” (E.M. Forster 77)
Alone, this small portion of the verse sums up all the pessimistically apocalyptic outcomes of human’s “evolution”. Which is really de-evolution rather than evolution. The cause? The comfort of technology. That which first began as simply a betterment to the human experience but quickly became so much more.
Irony lies in the fact that humanity managed to convince themselves otherwise. By reestablishing religion, they further dug themselves into their hole. Even when the machine began to stop they kept up the excuses. Due to their way of worship, humanity decides to have “sympathy” for the machine because it has done so much for them. However, their belief really just covers the “sin against their body”.
All in all, the message is meant to contradict the blind worship of the “machine”. In the real world, the “machine” could be seen as highly interactive modern technology such as smartphones and social media. That which seems “heavenly” but over time becomes harder and harder to step away from and soon live without. The criticism is largely in the form of a what if.
What if smartphones are our new religion? Does convenience cause simplicity of mind? These are questions we must ask in light of our modern technological obsession.
Lauren, I like how you described "The Machine Stops" as a story of de-evolution rather than evolution. Despite all that the Machine has done for civilization, the fact that the inhabitants worship the Machine like God and never doubt its strength is terrifying. It seems that while technology, both in the story and in our modern day, is evolving, we as a species are becoming complacent.
ReplyDeleteThis is really well-written! I think you do a wonderful job outlining Forester’s commentary on society and relating it to modern times. And to answer your questions at the end of the post, I think that convenience does cause simplicity of mind, because once we start depending on things such as the Internet, we start to take those things for granted and go on a sort of autopilot, meaning we think less because we have to work less. However, I do have the hope that humanity will not “devolve” how it does in “The Machine Stops.”
ReplyDeleteLauren,
ReplyDeleteThis post took me on a wild journey and really made me think about our society. Your usage of evidence is stellar and the writing flows very well. I like your point about how the human's submission to convenience caused a sort of "de-evolution". There are actually studies showing that humans are supposedly becoming "dumber" because of technology. I would love for you to develop the religious aspect of your analysis more though. You mention it in passing but never really expand it.
Lauren, I love how concise yet well explained your blog post is. I totally agree with you in that this quote/short story critiques humanity's growing reliance on technology so much to the point that it becomes similar to a religion/idol. I think it's really interesting to see how many people in the story are actually so trustworthy of the machine that they'll defend it even when there's clearly problems. While reading it, I definitely had moments where I asked myself, "Are they just super naive? or just dumb? How can someone be in that much denial?" Thinking about it now, it's kind of crazy how much this situation parallels to real life and human's current use of technology -- it's definitely exaggerated but an accurate picture nonetheless in my opinion. Now, almost everything we do involves technology so it really makes you wonder, what would happen in our world if the internet or our technologies were all of a sudden gone?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I LOVE your theory about The Machine Stops depicting "de-evolution" rather than evolution -- and with the evidence you present I couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteWe discussed in class how The Machine Stops may very well be a critique of our modern day obsession with technology, and its great that you expanded on this idea with the quote you used from the story. While the "worshiping" of the machinery is obviously a very exaggerated critique of the state of society, I did personally find it frighteningly similar to our current situation today, with our obsessions over iPhones and other technologies.
I really enjoyed this post! Like most people have said, I really liked the complicated question you brought up regarding humanity's evolution. On the one hand, we are becoming more advanced through new technological advancements, but on the other hand, our human qualities are being reduced as we become more and more reliant on machines to do our daily tasks. I also liked the concept of technology as a religion that you brought up. It definitely seems like a far-fetched ideas now, however, similar to the story, these things can happen without us realizing it. The questions that you posed at the end were really interesting and thought-provoking, and made me think of our future as humans.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed your post! You pose the entangling and somewhat muddling question of whether the society in "The Machine Stops" is really evolving but instead devolving. When we discussed this short story we talked about how the society presented in the story is a critique of modern society and its dependence on technology. We follow technology because it creates an environment of convenience and ease but it has come to a point where we have become obsessed with technology and it is leading our society to its eventual downfall.
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