The Machine Stops
by E. M. Forster
In this short sci-fi story, Forster depicts a world in which nearly all humans have lost the ability to live on Earth's surface. Every human being lives in isolation in a 'cell', all bodily and spiritual needs are met by a sublime, global Machine. Most people welcome this development because they are skeptical and afraid of the experience firsthand. People forget that humans created the Machine and treat it as a mystical being whose needs replace their own. Those who do not accept the deity of the machine are seen as "non-mechanical" and threatened by "Homelessness." Eventually, the Machine collapses apocalyptically and the civilization of the Machine ends.
