Probably not.
I don't think it's at all likely that our world will become the one described by 'The Machine Stops' within the near future. A few scenes in the story just seem a bit stupid. For example, there is no way we would chop down forests for newspaper pulp. Deforestation is quite the problem, but I'm certain that if humans were to kill all the trees, it wouldn't be because of newspapers. Instead, we would be cutting down the amazon rain forest for more cattle ground.
But seriously, we should probably stop burning down the forests, we kind of need Oxygen to breath . With attentiveness to climate change drastically increased, and ever more climate activists, (Didn't we plant 20 million trees this year or something?), we are making quite the effort to prevent the atmospheric disaster featured in the story, and once some more people get their heads out of their asses, the effort will hopefully pay off.
Another aspect of the story that seems unrealistic to me is the lack of physical activity. While humans can be lazy, we value sports and exercise way too much to become as inactive as the people described in the story. We have cars and bikes, but that doesn't stop people from running track or cross country. Its as simple as the fact that a lot of people enjoy working out, and unless they are all killed off, people will continue to actually move. Human pride and competitiveness also go a long way towards encouraging physical activity. The World Cup is eagerly followed across the globe in countries that don't even compete (Hello China), and cultural sports are played everywhere from a young age. And with so much antagonism towards obesity, the chances of the average human moving in that direction isn't particularly high. Sure, the current 'perfect body' media culture can be toxic, but it's also serving as a barrier against Wall-E bodies.
The most important reason 'The Machine Stops' is unrealistic in my opinion, is because the text 'The Machine Stops' exists. For every single dystopic sci-fi novel we have, the smaller the chance we have of evolving into those worlds. By reading the stories, we get a sense of the horror and catastrophe that might happen if we proceed down certain paths. 'Divergent' warns against genetic modification, 'The Handmaids Tale' warns against controlling birthrates, 'Parable of the Sower' warns against Climate Change, and 'Brave New World' warns against getting lit. With these texts in existence, whenever we try to apply potentially drastic reforms, we can point to them as a warning of what not to do. This can already be seen recently, with pro-choice activists dressing as characters from 'The Handmaids Tale' to protest abortion laws.
If Forster intended to predict the future though, I'd give him a B-. He predicted our modern utilities pretty accurately, such as our internet and smartphones, but he was a bit too drastic in other areas. Which makes sense since his novel is an extremist outlook on a technologically advanced society.
I will cut him some slack, as he wrote the story in 1909, and didn't have the benefit of foresight, but I genuinely think even in the 1900s that there would be a better reason for deforestation than... newspaper pulp.
Of course, this is all speculation, and humans are capable of incredibly stupid things. So who knows what will happen down the line if McDonalds somehow takes over the world and supersizes everyone?
I like your idea that "the machine stops" being written prevents it from happening in real life. I think that it's similar to why we learn history; we use the fear and disgust we feel at what we have done --or in this case, what could happen-- to prevent ourselves from falling back into those pitfalls, or going towards them in the first place. I do disagree, however, with your grade of B- to Forester. I'd give him a solid 91%. He predicted with close accuracy many devices that we have mirrors of today, with no basis to think of them from. He even predicted the problem of the lack of expression from digital messaging
ReplyDeleteI think that the viewpoints you presented on Forester's inaccuracies were really interesting and ones that I did not consider before. It's easy to think of Forester as 100% accurate because of some of the similarities that he writes about, but your ideas make a lot of sense. Your point about physical inactivity was especially thought-provoking - I think it will be really hard to completely eliminate physical activity because, like you said, sports and exercise culture is huge in society. I think the point you made about obesity being something "shameful" in our culture is really true, because since people are so attached and obsessed with a certain body image, it'd be really hard to quickly get rid of that. It's literally engrained into society and our minds. Like Daniel, I personally think that Forester is a little more accurate than your B- grade, but your points are certainly valid and I think you raise up really good opinions.
ReplyDeleteYou make several valid arguments: from the innate instinct to compete with each other to using stories as a warning. However, I wonder if you could argue the other way around. (Just playing Devil's advocate, don't @ me)
ReplyDeleteThere's a push for body positivity which could unfortunately lead to people accepting unhealthy levels of obesity. There's a growing audience for ESports which would decrease the audience for physical sports. Students are now bound to their calculators in math. I don't even think everyone knows how to change a car tire or start a fire without any equipment.
Additionally, large factories and farms will continue expanding because of the demand for various animal products. Last time I heard, the production of meat is a bigger climate change threat than newspapers or lack of trees. Not to mention, the majority of the population are still using gas power cars.
With consumerism at the forefront of our society's system, we're barreling closer and closer to our self-destruction. So, perhaps we won't be shoved into hexagonal compartments, but our current way of life is heading down a dark path.
While I do somewhat disagree with your earlier points about climate change and obesity (neither of those fights are even close to being won), I think that your comment about the way that stories like these help to warn us of the future to be very insightful. One of the main reasons that things are so bad in modern times is because the people in power are unable to think hypothetically about the future and what disastrous effects our current actions should have. They make decisions based on the next 5 years, not the next 50. Consuming media like "The Machine Stops" and even stuff like "Up" provides valuable visualizations of what a dystopian future has the potential to look like.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Forester's dystopian reality is not entirely plausible from a modern lense. I feel like if he'd said a series of natural disasters and extreme weather caused of the apocalyptic state of the earth it would have made more sense. However, I feel like the idea that the people of the hive were bred to be less active is realistic in a sense. The "homeless" complete the picture because they're the ones that didn't give up physical activity.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly raise some pretty interesting points that I didn't really think of (such as the idea that "The Machine Stops" being a story makes it less likely to happen). However, to be honest, I was very surprised at how accurate Forster was. Given that "The Machine Stops" was written in 1909, he predicted things that are true even now. Although he did accurately predict our high usage of technology, I was more amazed by how close he was to the social effects of technology. Take, for example, the idea that humans don't interact in person anymore. Although our society certainly isn't close to having those social norms, there is still truth in this prediction; many people today, especially those who use technology a lot, struggle with face-to-face interactions. I found these predictions about the state of the human race to especially surprising and almost terrifying.
ReplyDeleteThankfully Forster's prediction isn't true... yet.
I completely agree with your opinion. Even though the dystopian world is described almost as realistic in The Machine Stops, I believe that it is nearly impossible to come to that. There is already awareness in our world that the world of The Machine Stops could be a possible future. In this era, people are doing everything they can to stop that kind of future. They still need more support however, and as long as this awareness keeps growing, there will be no need to worry about a "The Machine Stops" future.
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