The Machine Stops

The Machine Stops is a science fiction short story written by E. M. Forster and originally published in 1909 in The Oxford and Cambridge Review.

The story, divided into three chapters, presents a futuristic world where humanity lives underground in isolated, identical rooms in which the Machine provides the basic human needs at the push of a button.

Human interaction has almost completely disappeared and there is hardly any physical contact. People remain in their individual rooms and communicate with one another through screens rather than meeting in person.

The story anticipates technologies resembling video calls and networked communication, but its central warning concerns dependence on automated systems and the loss of direct human experience.