The eternal moment, and other stories

"The Eternal Moment and Other Stories" by E. M. Forster is a collection that starts with a look into a future where people live separated underground, trusting a giant Machine for everything that they need. The main character, Vashti, talks to her son, Kuno, who tries to get her to leave the Machine's world, but she doesn't want to. This opening shows a world where technology controls human life and contact between people isn't real. When Kuno wants to see the Earth's surface and turns away from the Machine, the story begins to show the importance of being free, experiencing things directly, and the risks of depending too much on technology. The fight between Vashti and Kuno makes us think more deeply about what it means to be human and to exist outside of machines, suggesting there could be serious problems when a society is too focused on technology and isn't connected.