Do Not Read This Story. You Are Not Allowed.

(Photo Credit: Randy Montoya) Photo not really related other than it is a big awesome machine designed to experiment with nuclear fusion (apparently successfully too) but it is kind of how I imagine the "nerve centre" for the machine in the following story. Perhaps that title caught your attention and it's not just a gimmick to get attention but part of the theme of today's reading. I'm talking about "The Machine Stops" written by E.M. Forster in 1909. The fact that you saw that title and decided to read on anyway shows that you have free will of your own and aren't subordinated easily by others. This is good.  In Forster's magnum opus, "The Machine Stops", people no longer have the need to interact personally yet they have thousands of virtual acquaintances similar to online social networking (remember when this was written and be amazed). In this futuristic world, people live underground in an epic global man-made life-support system thingy for the human race. Technology is so advanced that people are completely engrossed in their own thoughts and ideas. Instead of work, people come up with ideas! Humans no longer have need for contact because of a "speaking apparatus" (think video-conferencing or internet chat). In this way, humans have become so advanced so as they no longer need their physical bodies for survival because the machine provides everything. Thus, they have forgotten the intricacies of the machine since it needs no human intervention. The real story is about Kuno, who has human desire. He wants to go outside again and do physical work. Kuno wants to rid himself of the machine. I won't go into everything because you should read it for yourself, but it is (to simplify horribly) about man's reliance on technology and the pitfalls of not knowing how to do things "the old-fashioned way". Please read this story. I have no intention of babying you on this one. If there is one piece of literature you must actually read for yourself it is this (besides it's only a short novella of 12000 words). You have time to read it. Unless you are Jack Bauer in real-life 24, Jesus Christ, God himself, Sylvester Stallone in Rambo or currently delivering a baby, you clearly can spare the time to do yourself a favour and absorb some culture.You don't have to buy it or anything and I'm sure you'll be astonished at the foresight of E.M. Forster. Remember, this was written in 1909 before computers, television etc. If you are worth a grain of salt let alone your weight in it, you will read this story and you will thank me for it.  The Machine Stops  (free online-version!) And for you lazy asses who don't want to or won't read because you have the gnat-like attention-span of a spoiled 14-year old cell-phone wielding girl, I have an audio version here as well. (Of course I grant that you may just like someone telling you stories. Me too.) The Machine Stops (free audio-version download!)