The Machine Stops (1909)

This is one of the greatest and most influential short stories ever. I remember in college we had long debates about how the machine is the equivalent of what Facebook would be if "the machine stops" (i.e. social networking suddenly shuts down). Here are a couple worthwhile things to note about this: - E.M. Forster wrote this in 1909, before there were even televisions. He essentially predicted humanity's future obsession with screens long before anyone else did, and even predicted…

"Her voice was irritable, for she had been interrupted often since the music began. She knew several thousand people, in certain directions human intercourse had advanced enormously." Prescient to the point of being creepy.

Previously submitted: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=821360 Also mentioned in this discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=931273 It's also related to all the threads deploring that fact that it's nearly impossible to "tinker" with things these days, since things are so complicated you can't actually see how they work. Everything is a magic black box. I sympathise with recent requests by pencil (http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=pencil) for a path to enlightenment in physics/math/electronics. How do…

Though it may not rise to the airy ranks of the front page, thank you. It is an interesting idea. Edit: Thank you for preserving a mortal hand's revenge. http://johnbakersblog.co.uk/the-joy-of-writing-by-wislawa-sz...