THE MACHINE STOPS by E.M. Forster

Could it be that easy?

 

No it is not easy to unplug from our technology.  And everyday it gets harder as we are using more and more technology to do everything.  Digital technology is embedded in our life now.  We depend upon it.  We trust.  We trust others to protect our digital life movements.  We are locked in: to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer (them) for poorer (us), in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death do us part...Well, with the coming Singularity; maybe not even then!

 

Today I read short story by E.M. Forster "The Machine Stops".  He tells an excellent story that will make you think about our daily technology and the effect it is having on our culture and on our future.  This is a story written in 1909 and yet the language and presentation seems more appropriate for today.  It is the story of comfort, convenience, and protection.  Also, a story of dependence and atrophy.  It is a story of us and our love of technology and our want of ever more efficiency. 

 

It took me only an hour or so to read.  But as I finished, it set me into deep contemplation of the times we are living in with our ever advancing technology in relation to the story.  Then I decided that I wanted to take a college class on something along this line.  So I wrote a course syllabus called "Technology, Culture and the Future."  The course will explore the long reach and penetration of technology on individuality, personality, relationships, innovation, perpetualness, and the effect on humanity and civilization. In this course we will explore the usefulness and benefits of technology, as well as, the seduction and addiction of it.  Then we will explore the danger of the capacity of current trends in technology. 

 

It should be a lot of fun and thought provoking.  Just let me know if you would be interested in taking such a course online and I will get it set up. Just let me know in the comment section and I will get further information to you.  By the way: the first reading & discussion will be E.M. Forster's "THE MACHINE STOPS."