The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster:
Science Fiction Inventions, Technology and Ideas

"Imagine, if you can, a small room, hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee. It is lighted neither by window nor by lamp, yet it is filled with a soft radiance. There are no apertures for ventilation, yet the air is fresh. There are no musical instruments, and yet, at the moment that my meditation opens, this room is throbbing with melodious sounds. An arm-chair is in the centre, by its side a reading-desk—that is all the furniture. And in the arm-chair there sits a swaddled lump of flesh—a woman, about five feet high, with a face as white as a fungus. It is to her that the little room belongs..." Read it here. Select an invention:

Breed Humans For Machines
Carefully cull the strong, resilient humans in favor of weakness, that the human race might be more adapted to life in the Machine.

Cinematophote (Blue Optic Plate) - first reference to television
The first reference to a tablet-sized, handheld screen.

Machine Apartment
Each person lives isolated in their own room, supported by a vast planetary machine.

Machine Music
Entertainment from the Great Machine.

Public Call
A form of communication in which a group of people would remain isolated, but through technology could see and hear each other.

Telemedicine Apparatus - first known reference
First reference to a device that allows physicians to examine or aid patients at a distance.

The Book of the Machine
The only book needed for life in the vast Machine.

The Machine - supplies every need
A single vast contrivance that supplied all the needs of the world's millions of solitary inhabitants.

Video Communicator
A device that carried both voice and image, letting the two parties see each other.

 

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Science Fiction
in the News

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Thermostabilized Wet Meat Product (NASA Prototype)
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Artificial Skin For Robots Is Coming Right Along
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Robot Guard Dog On Duty
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Wearable Artificial Fabric Muscles
re: HG Wells
(11/5/2025)

BrainBridge Concept Transplant Of Human Head Proposed
re: Alexander Belaev
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Google's Nano Banana Pro Presents Handwritten Math Solutions
re: Isaac Asimov
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Edible Meat-Like Fungus Like Barbara Hambly's Slunch?
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Sunday Robotics 'Memo' Bot Has Unique Training Glove
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