Once AI Doesn’t Need Us

One of the most insightful books about modern technology was written almost 120 years before any of our current technology existed.

The Machine Stops is a highly acclaimed science fiction novella by E. M. Forster (the author of A Passage to India). It provides a shocking view of a technology-addicted world, much like ours, that is now fully dependent on the Machine. This stunningly prophetic work from 1909 features technology eerily similar to today’s computer screens, social media apps, group chat forums, and even Artificial Intelligence.

Here’s a passage from this brilliantly disruptive book:

We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It has robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralyzed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it. The Machine developed—but not on our lies. The Machine proceeds—but not to our goal. We only exist as the blood corpuscles that course through the arteries, and if it could work without us, it would let us die.

These lines hit me the hardest, especially with where AI is headed: “We created the Machine to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now…and if it could work without us, it would let us die.” At only 46 pages, this novella can be read in one sitting. It imagines a future based on where we’re headed…and leaves us to wrestle with whether to embrace or prevent it. 

I hope you’ll give this cautionary tale a read. Then dive into my book, Risk the Real, for ways we can defy the rise of the artificial.

This reading was crafted to encourage your pursuit of story and creativity with God. Your donation makes this crowd-funded initiative possible. You can support it via PAYPAL (or by check to Allen Arnold at PO Box 62841, Colorado Springs, CO 80962).

Want More?
Order your copy of Risk the Real today