The Machine Stops
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4.5 • 56 Ratings
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- $0.99
Publisher Description
The Machine Stops is a short science fiction story. It describes a world in which almost all humans have lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual lives in isolation in a 'cell', with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Most humans welcome this development, as they are skeptical and fearful of first-hand experience. People forget that humans created the Machine, and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own. Those who do not accept the deity of the Machine are viewed as 'unmechanical' and are threatened with "H omelessness". Eventually, the Machine apocalyptically collapses, and the civilization of the Machine comes to an end.
Customer Reviews
Beautiful and devastating.
The language smolders and smolders until it gradually erupts. My favorite short story of all time.
Uncomfortably Salient
An incredibly potent shot of the threads that already bind us, in all aspect of culture. The metaphor may seem on the nose, but for it to be foreseen this clearly over 115 years ago…surely there is a resonance, a truth that could draw us to the same fate as the Undenominational Machinists.
The Machine Stops
Prescient and well- penned