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

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.

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

Robotic Barber Programmed With a Number of Styles
re: Don Wilcox
(5/17/2025)

Humanoid Boxing Robot KO's Opponent - It's A Knockout!
re: Aldo Giunta
(5/15/2025)

Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon
re: Jack Williamson
(5/13/2025)

Centipede Robots Down On The Farm
re: Fritz Leiber
(5/11/2025)

Anthropic's Claude AI Creates Legal Citation From Whole Cloth
re: Punch
(5/11/2025)

Students Vie For Lunar Regolith Mining Robot Prize
re: Pournelle and Niven
(5/9/2025)

'They Erased My Memory' Says Ariana Grande
re: Edmond Hamilton
(5/7/2025)

Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space
re: Frank K. Kelly
(5/5/2025)

Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic
re: Max Plaisted
(5/3/2025)

DARPA Wants 'Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures'
re: Greg Bear
(5/1/2025)

Robot Hand Creeps Along, Separate From It's Owner
re: Philip K. Dick
(4/30/2025)

Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
re: Murray Leinster
(4/28/2025)

Korean Exoskeleton Suit F1 Helps You Put It On
re: Marvel
(4/26/2025)

Have AI Researchers Given Up On 'Bio-Babies'?
re: David Brin
(4/24/2025)

More SF in the News

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