(After) Man vs. Machine: The Future of Humanity Seen Through the Eyes of Ayn Rand and E.M.

Forster As human beings, we thrive on advancing -- especially in the modern world. Simply take a look at todays most well known companies: what new smart gadget will Apple, Inc. come up with next? What will next years Porsche be capable of? From a young age, people constantly dream about what new heights man will be able to achieve- children, for one, always love the annual Guinness Book of World Records, looking in awe at the feats of humankind. At times, it is almost as if society is saying We are human: Hear us roar. However, do people today ever think about what would happen if we lost that control? What if mankind fell into a deep regression, succumbing to nearly complete dependency on outside forces in order to live? For the ordinary person, this may seem a far-off, outrageous idea. In a world of constant advancement and progression, the deterioration of civilized society never seems to present itself as an actual threat. Writers and thinkers Ayn Rand and E.M. Forster, though, beg to differ, as is evident in Rands novel Anthem and Forsters short story The Machine Stops. Each embodies the authors fear of societys eventual fall of intellect, individuality, and human connection. However, Anthems hopeful prediction of mans ability to renew and reestablish combats that of The Machine Stops, in which society is ultimately destroyed. In each of their respective works, Rand and Forster paint an image of the future that is epitomized by human regression. One way this manifests itself is through the lack of intellectual and individual development. Each society seems to have educated its citizens into a mentally stagnant, and almost brainwashed state. In Forsters The Machine Stops, the citizens have all tasks done for them by The Machine, and base any knowledge they have around what is second-hand, and if possible tenth-hand; to acquiring knowledge by first account is regarded as disturbing (Forster 15). Similarly, in the future depicted by Rands Anthem, the narrator tells of how it is a sin to have thoughts of ones own (Rand 1). To possess individual ideas has become deviant, and some might say blasphemous. Along with the restricted intellectuality in both Anthem and The Machine Stops comes the dismissal of any importance placed on the individual. The people of Forsters story do everything so that the Machine may progress eternally. Any individual advancement is unheard of; muscularity and strength, for example, is stunted from a young age, as it is considered threatening to the progression of the Machine. Anthems society also rejects individuality, maintaining a strictly collectivist state. Citizens are engrained with the notion of The great WE; to even utter the Unspeakable Word I is a crime (Rand 3, 6). These elements directly connect to the authors fears of the time: Critic John Lewis writes on Rands beliefs, which are shared by Forster, in there being no greater crime against man than to attack his sense of self (Lewis, qtd. in Mayhew 172). As is evident by their corresponding works, Rand and Forster shared a fear of this crime against mankind becoming a full-fledged reality. Rand herself comments, in a letter, And what but a rotting alive can human existence be when devoid of the pride and joy of

a mans right to his own spirit? (Lewis, qtd. in Mayhew 172). This characterizes the death of man not in the literal form, but rather in the death of his sense of being and of his own self; in other words, a living death in the destruction of independence and individuality (Lewis, qtd. in Mayhew 173). By way of the depictions human existence being stripped of intellectual and individual advancement, both Anthem and The Machine Stops clearly show the authors anticipation of societys succumbing to this awful state in their depictions of life. Beyond the individual, virtually all human-to-human relationships in these future societies have also been done away with. Both societies have gone so far as to impose laws restricting contact between humans: in The Machine Stops, the studied and essentially worshipped book of the Machine declares that parent-child relations be cut off directly after birth (Forster 6); Anthems society has similar restrictions between males and females any affairs outside of the breeding pairs set by the Council are entirely taboo. These separations extend far beyond the law, though; In The Machine Stops, the act of communicating directly by spoken word is considered out of the common; when a flight attendant initiates physic al contact, though only for support, it is proclaimed as barbaric (Forster 7). Something that had once been a norm of society has become, in these stories, something unusual and looked down upon. Distinctive characteristics and personalities between people are what fuel human relationships, and the nonexistence of such has become equally apparent in each of the societies. Here, Rand and Forster are expressing the fear that with degeneration of the human race, human connection, whether physical contact, speech, or even eye contact, could become lost. As with most fictional literature, Rand and Forsters works each present us with a protagonist figure; some may call him a hero. The authors represent these characters as mavericks, attempting to overcome and advance beyond what society has become. These characters, the underdogs of their respective stories, represent a glimmer of hope for humanity in the midst of a bleak future. However, this is also where Rand and Forsters ideas diverge. On one hand, Anthems hero, Equality, escapes the chains of society with the help of his companion Liberty, to begin again and reestablish civilization for what it should be. These two bring a sense of faith in humanity: that though society has regressed to a state of primitivism, there exists potential of advancing again, into a strange new world but one that is deemed as our own (Rand 84). The Machine Stops, on the other hand, offers a less hopeful prospect, in which the underdog of the story, Kuno, is unsuccessful in his efforts to save mankind. Humanity eventually faces its destruction, and joins the nations of the dead in an explosive, bloody ending. This leaves the reader with a sense of fear, of despair, and ultimate dissatisfaction. Consequently, though both stories parallel each other leading up to the climax, the lasting message each author conveys is significantly contrasting. In Rands novel, man is embodied as the hero, while in Forsters story man is the eventual victim. Anthem is, therefore, a story characterized by hope for humanity in the end, while The Machine Stops is taken over by fears, leaving the reader with a bleak image of the future. If both authors shared such beliefs and concerns, how and why then did each come to such contradictory conclusions? Though both stories appear almost identical in their deteriorated depiction of humanitys future, there is a major

distinction, which lays in the two respective causes of the great regressions each novels respective societies. Anthems is dictated by and was apparently produced by human beings. The narrator tells of the mysterious Great Rebirth, which led to an essentially primeval civilization with complete reliance on the supposedly all knowing World Council and Council of Scholars (Rand 19,23). While The Machine Stops presents us with an equally dependent people in the future, they are dependent on a machine rather than anything human. Though there are similar Committees in the society of The Machine Stops, all humans of Forsters world are dependent on The Machine, at one point worshipping it as a god. The Book of the Machine becomes a bible and life manual for the people, who all hold the unmoving belief that where there was the Book there was security. As the story comes to a close, however, we see the irony in that this so-honored machine and its book are unable to save mankind. Therefore, given Anthem and The Machine Stops messages, it is apparent that Rand stood by the belief of mans ability to overcome man, while Forster warns that if we let machine take over our own humanity, we will eventually fall. These concepts of the future in Rands Anthem and Forsters The Machine Stops are very radical, and can be frightening for humans to think about. In our modern society, there is such focus on advancement and progression that it can be difficult to wrap our minds around even the possibility of our eventual regressionespecially to the extent represented in Anthem and The Machine Stops. Perhaps this is, then, exactly why Rand and Forster chose to write these stories. These authors warn the audience of what society could lose if not careful: intellect, individuality, and human connection -- all seen as absolute in todays world. However, in the end, Rand shows faith in man overcoming man, while Forster portrays the hopelessness as consequence of man being overtaken by the machine. Works Cited Forester, E.M. "The Machine Stops." The Collected Short Stories. Penguin: New York, 1952. Mayhew, Robert. Essays on Ayn Rand's Anthem. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2005. Print. Rand, Ayn. Anthem. Comp. Leonard Peikoff. New York, New York: Penguin, 1995. Print.