Book · 2017
The Machine Stops
By E. M. Forster - Illustrated
- mentions
- 5
- people
- 2
- podcasts
- 3
- episodes
- 5
- recommendations
- 3
That's the em forrester story also the machine stops did you ever read that no no what's that.
The best things said about it
So e.m foster has a story you know so he usually wrote you know late victorian early edwardian social you know british upper class social issue kinds of novels but um he wrote a science fiction story called the machine stops which i also recommend to your audience.
Where and when it comes up
Most mentions, by podcast
Why people recommend it
E.M. Forster's classic science fiction short story "The Machine Stops" depicts a dystopian future where humanity lives entirely isolated in underground pods, dependent on an all-encompassing machine that automates daily life and interpersonal interaction. On Timcast IRL, Libby Emmons brought up the story multiple times, using it to draw parallels between Forster's early-twentieth-century prognostications and modern phenomena such as pandemic-era lockdowns and the increasing isolation of individuals living entirely through digital interfaces. Similarly, Stuart Russell recommended the story on both Modern Wisdom and the Lex Fridman Podcast as a cautionary tale to illustrate the growing dangers of technological over-reliance, human enfeeblement, and the systemic risks of artificial intelligence control. Russell noted that while Forster was primarily known for writing late-Victorian and Edwardian upper-class British social novels that later became BBC costume dramas, this particular science fiction work remains an astonishingly prescient warning about society ceding its autonomy to automated systems. Speakers across these podcasts emphasized how the narrative serves as an enduring framework for critiquing modern dependencies on technology, highlighting the dangers of retreating into virtual and mechanized bubbles at the expense of genuine human connection and physical reality. The podcast discussions underscored the timeless relevance of Forster's vision in an era increasingly dominated by algorithms and automated convenience.
Every mention
Stuart Russell so e.m foster has a story you know so he usually wrote you know late victorian early edwardian social you k… 2
“so e.m foster has a story you know so he usually wrote you know late victorian early edwardian social you know british upper class social issue kinds of novels but um he wrote a science fiction story called the machine stops which i also recommend to your audience”
“and there's an amazing short story that I recommend to everyone that I talk to about this called the machine stops written in 1909 by Ian Foster who you know wrote novels about the British Empire and sort of things that became costume dramas on the BBC but he wrote this one science fiction story which is an amazing vision”
Libby Emmons that's the em forrester story also the machine stops did you ever read that no no what's that 3
“Foresters the machine stops is really about this everybody lives in a pod underground because the world has become uninhabitable and there's a machine that pairs everybody up for mating”
“that's the em forrester story also the machine stops did you ever read that no no what's that”
“he wrote a book called the machine stops and it basically it takes place in the future he wrote it in what like i think 1911 1918 somewhere around there and everybody lives in their own little box”
