The Machine Stops cover art

The Machine Stops

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About this listen

The Machine Stops is a groundbreaking sci-fi short story by E. M. Forster. The story is set in a world where humanity lives underground and relies on a giant machine to provide its needs. The book is particularly notable for predicting new technologies such as instant messaging and the Internet.

After initial publication in The Oxford and Cambridge Review in November 1909 the story was republished in Forster's The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928. After being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965, it was included that same year in the populist anthology Modern Short Stories. In 1973 it was also included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two.

Public Domain (P)2024 SNR Audio Classics Dystopian Science Fiction World Literature Fiction
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Beautifully written and thought provoking. “The machine” is a metaphor for the over reliance of humans on AI… although AI did not exist at the time this book was conceived

It is a relevant today, as the day it was written

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Solid story, not quite nightfall but certainly engaging enough, good narration too. 15 word minimum.

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