People V.

Technology

Technology has advanced in many ways that make people’s lives easier than before.

From being able to type an essay in the comfort of one’s bed to the development of self-driving

cars, technology has become so advanced that people don’t necessarily have to do tasks “the old

fashioned-way”. Although technological advancements prove to be convenient, they also take

away the qualities that make us human. Authors Edward Forster and Karl Marx offer insight on

how technology has the potential in stripping people of their humanity. In his short story, “The

Machine Stops”, Edward Forster discusses how the advancement of technology will lead people

to live in isolation, which gives them the inability to form human connections. He also discusses

how the more technology advances, the less likely humans will be able to think for themselves.

Further supporting Forster concerning technological advancements, Karl Marx highlights in his

essay, “Wage Labour and Capital”, how technology will soon take over the jobs of underclass

citizens. Both written works showcase that technology has the capacity to take on human tasks,

causing people to become more reliant on those advancements. However, Both Edward Forster

and Karl Marx argue that ultimate reliance on technology will strip people of their humanity.

In “The Machine Stops”, Edward Forster depicts the people living in isolation under The

Machine to highlight how technology can strip people from forming human connections. From

birth, the people living in this society are in their own individual pods and rely on technology to

interact with people without having to leave the comfort of their home. However, when Vishti

leaves her pod to visit her son, Kuno, she is forced to interact with humans face-to-face instead

of through a screen. Since she is not used to interacting with humans outside of her pod, she was

anxious about having human interaction without the use of technology: “Inside, her anxiety

increased. The arrangements were old-fashioned and rough. There was even a female attendant,
to whom she would have to announce her wants during the voyage” (Forster 2021, 7). Having a

human provide service for other humans seemed to be something foreign in their society because

of the fact that their only form of human interaction has been through technology.

The only person who recognized how The Machine was stripping people of human

qualities was Vishti’s son, Kuno. He expresses that The Machine, “...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 paralysed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it”

(Forster 2021, 15). One major part of human interactions is the ability to feel emotions towards

one another. However, because technology mediates everything that the people do, there is no

incentive to form any relationship with one another since technology can satisfy everyone’s

needs. Therefore, Forster warns that technology can lead people into isolation and inhibit their

abilities to form connections with each other, which will ultimately strip them of their humanity.

Edward Forster also argues that further advancements in technology will prevent humans

from thinking for themselves. Because everything under The Machine society is highly advanced

and people can satisfy their needs with a push of a button, there is no incentive to learn anything

new. The people only look back at history and interpret it, but only from other people’s

interpretations. In fact, they are encouraged that their, “...ideas be second-hand, and if possible

tenth-hand, for then they will be far removed from that disturbing element - direct observation”

(Forster 2021, 18). Essentially, because people rely heavily on technology, they don’t get to

experience and learn things first-hand, which is why they only learn through lessons told from

other people. Direct observation is unnecessary when they can learn the material through a

screen.
 However, because society under The Machine relies on technology to solve their

problems and satisfy their needs, the people don’t know how to fix problems that The Machine

itself caused. Towards the end of the text, The Machine begins to break down, and because the

people didn’t know how to handle situations like this on their own, they didn’t know what to do:

“People were crawling about, people were screaming, whimpering, gasping for breath, touching

each other, vanishing in the dark, and ever and anon being pushed off the platform on to the live

rail” (Forster 2021, 24). All their life, they relied heavily on technology to do tasks for them, but

when it comes time to save themselves, the people do not know what to do. Being able to think

for oneself and develop useful skills is a significant component of humanity for it offers people

with their unique insight on the world around them. Therefore, Forster highlights that as

technology advances, people will not think for themselves and let technology do all the work for

them, which strips them from their humanity. Not only will machines take away the qualities of

what makes people feel human, but it will also lead to the cease of humanity since it can lead

many people to die, just as The Machine did.

In “Wage Labour and Capital”, Karl Marx argues that the advancement of technology

will replace the jobs of underclass citizens. In his essay, Marx discusses his view on capitalism

while also touching on the subject of how the further technology advances, the more jobs will be

lost. He explains why technology is more ideal to have in production by writing, “ If a machine

costs him, for example, 1,000 shillings, and this machine is used up in 10 years, he adds 100

shillings annually to the price of the commodities, in order to be able after 10 years to replace the

worn-out machine with a new one. In the same manner, the cost of production of simple

labour-power must include the cost of propagation, by means of which the race of workers is

enabled to multiply itself, and to replace worn-out workers with new ones” (Marx 2006, 8).
Essentially, the use of machinery is ideal since, unlike workers, they don’t require wages

therefore making them cheaper to use while still producing a great amount of goods. Therefore,

workers not earning as much as their work is worth strips them of their humanity.

Additionally, Marx points out the fact that technology can produce more goods than the

average worker can. He writes that, “Machinery produces the same effects, but upon a much

larger scale. It supplants skilled labourers by unskilled, men by women, adults by children;

where newly introduced, it throws workers 20 upon the streets in great masses; and as it becomes

more highly developed and more productive it discards them in additional though smaller

numbers” (Marx 2006, 19-20). In other words, capitalists will favor investing in machinery since

machines can easily replace the jobs of low-class citizens due to how fast and how much they

can produce. As technology takes over the jobs of lower-class citizens, it essentially kicks them

to the curb and makes it harder for them to find a suitable and sustainable job. Obtaining a job is

essential in humanity for it provides people with purpose, discipline, and a sense of their own

identity. Therefore, when technology begins to replace the jobs of underclass workers, it also

takes away a significant part of what makes them human.

One might argue that technology actually aids in humanity due to the fact that it can

contribute more towards advancements than the average human could. Karl Marx explains in his

essay on wage, labor, and capital that machinery can easily produce twice as much and twice as

fast as a human could. He reasons that, “The improvements of machinery, the new applications

of the forces of nature in the service of production, make it possible to produce in a given period

of time, with the same amount of labour and capital, a larger amount of products…” (Marx 2006,

15). It would seem obvious that technology will aid humanity as it can produce more goods than

an average worker could. Furthermore, technological advancements would aid in economic

growth, which is seen to be good for humanity since states can fund for resources that contribute

to public needs. However, although being able to produce more is ideal with the help of

technology, there is no value associated with machine-made products. The reason being is that

humans didn’t contribute to making them. Marx explains this by providing a spinning machine

example: “If by the use of the spinning-machine I can furnish twice as much yarn in an hour as

before its invention – for instance, 100 pounds instead of 50 pounds – in the long run I receive

back, in exchange for this 100 pounds no more commodities than I did before for 50…” (Marx

2006, 15). For anything to have value, according to Marx, a human must be the one who

produced those goods. Since a machine is producing goods, the profits would only go to the

owner of those machines while the rest of the workers don’t earn any more than they did

previously.

Although, being able to produce more with the help of technology can be good in aiding

for funds to help the public, it takes away jobs of the people who need to work. As mentioned

earlier, the ability to work is important to humanity as it allows people to provide for themselves,

along with their family, while also giving them a purpose in life. When technological

advancements begin to take that away from them, it does nothing but strip these people of their

humanity. Therefore, allowing more people to work, rather than letting technology take over, will

further progress humanity as it gives people a sense of what makes them human and gives them

the opportunity to place value unto their labor.

Overall, as people become more reliant on technology, they will also have a part of their

humanity stolen from them. Both Edward Forster and Karl Marx warn of this by demonstrating

how technological advancements give people no incentive to form human connections, leave

people with the inability to think for themselves, and take away the lower-class citizens' ability to
work. The advancement of technology, while seen as useful, should also be seen as alarming. If

technology has the capacity to take on human tasks, people will soon feel the need to question

their purpose in life. Therefore, although technology can make our lives easier and more

entertaining, it should be considered that it could also take away the qualities that make us

human.
 Bibliography

Foster, E.M. 2021. “The Machine Stops.” Website of Dr. P. Koehl, UC Davis. Accessed January

5, 2021.

https://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~koehl/Teaching/ECS188/PDF_files/Machine_stops.pdf.

Marx, Karl. 2006. Wage Labour and Capital. Accessed January 10, 2021.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm
 Writing Self Evaluation Form

1. The Main point I am trying to convey is that while technology can be useful in aiding

humanity, ultimate reliance on it will only lead to destruction of humanity.

2. The significance of my thesis is that in the texts, The Machine Stops and Wage Labour

and Capital, we see how the advancement of technology was, at first, seen to be a great

aid in humanity. However, the people in those texts began to heavily rely on technology

and they began to lose the qualities that make them human. Therefore, the main point I

want my audience to consider is how humans should be able to utilize technology but not

so much to where they solely rely on it to get through their daily lives.

3. In my introduction, I started off by listing the everyday tasks we typically complete with

the help of technology, such as typing up an essay in bed and the development of

self-driving cars. The activities I listed are things that everyone in this modern day and

age has become accustomed to that we don’t realize how bizarre it actually is that we

have access to almost anything and everything at our fingertips. By using this strategy, I

was able to point out how, even if we don’t realize it, technology is slowly taking over

human tasks and making us feel reliant on it.

4. My claims are how technology will lead people feeling isolated, not having the ability to

think for themselves, and that it takes away the jobs that lower-class citizens need in

order to sustain a life of their own. I ordered my claims in this way to show how

technology slowly integrates itself into our lives and I transition it into how it can

complete human jobs that it begins to take the jobs of people who need it. In other words,

I started off with a small flaw of technology and climbed up to a huge flaw to show how

alarming ultimate reliance on technology can be.

 5. My counterclaim was that some may argue that technology aids in humanity since it can

contribute towards advancements more than an average human could. I recognized that

that counterclaim is true, however, I pointed out the fact that it takes away value from

those advancements and workers are still being mistreated since the profits from those

machines would only go to the owner. I then circled back to my claim that by letting

workers have more jobs, rather than technology, it would bring back the value to those

advancements and give fair treatment towards workers who need the money to sustain a

life.

6. Did my last claim, as well as my counterclaim, make sense and was it useful in arguing

my overall thesis?

How I Improved My Writing

Some ways I worked on improving my writing was asking for help from our TA, Destiny.

I get nervous asking for help, especially when it comes to writing, but I know the only way for

me to improve is to get feedback on my rough drafts. I also got a comment from one of my peers

to include a different quotation that would be relevant in my argument. This advice made me

realize that I do tend to use lengthy, unnecessary quotes, so I began to keep an eye out for those

errors and only include quotes that would aid in my overall argument rather than stray away from

it. The last thing I did to improve my writing was making an outline. I typically tend to go

straight into writing the essay which leaves me confused as to what claims I’m making and how I

can tie those claims back to the thesis. Utilizing an outline allowed me to go back and forth

between the outline and the essay and double check to make sure my claims were in order, that

they argue for my thesis, and if they tie back into my overall argument.