The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster

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Every quote

The 12 most detailed of 16 comments. Each links to the original.

1. I think you'd enjoy The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster. It's amazingly prescient, given it was written in 1909.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learning to code is still worthwhile”

2. predicted technologies and cultural impacts similar to instant messaging, social media, and the Internet.

   Recommends · May 2026 · in “Colossus: The Forbin Project”

3. It's the most prescient thing I've ever read, and it's pretty short and a genuinely good story

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “History LLMs: Models trained exclusively on pre-1913 texts”

4. should be assigned reading on an annual basis for everyone working in tech today

   Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Nobody knows how the whole system works”

5. That story is incredible, with insights into what technology would mean

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Are We Idiocracy Yet?”

6. It was very forward thinking, and so full of ideas!

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Claude partial outage”

7. just as prescient as "Brave New World" and "1984"

   Recommends · May 2026 · in “Artificial egg hatched 26 healthy chickens”

8. still pretty relevant imo

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “How we lost communication to entertainment”

9. It's a story about what happens when the machine of modern life that we all rely on suddenly stops.

   Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “We Are the Last People Who Know How It Works”

10. The Machine Stops is incredible, it has influencers and everything.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Monster Is the Machine”

11. There was a good theatre adaption of The Machine Stops

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “Artificial egg hatched 26 healthy chickens”

12. they are marvelous and public domain

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Library of Short Stories”