The Machine Stops

Summary

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.