The Machine Stops
E140380
The Machine Stops is a 1909 dystopian science fiction short story depicting a future society utterly dependent on an all-controlling technological system and the consequences when it fails.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Machine Stops canonical | 4 |
| The Machine Stops (1909) | 1 |
| “The Machine Stops” | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1227995 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Machine Stops Context triple: [E. M. Forster, wrote, The Machine Stops]
-
A.
The Machine of the World
The Machine of the World is a famous allegorical vision in Luís de Camões’ epic poem *Os Lusíadas*, in which the cosmos and its secrets are revealed to the Portuguese explorers.
-
B.
The City and the Stars
The City and the Stars is a classic science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke that explores themes of immortality, memory, and the cyclical nature of civilization in a far-future utopian city.
-
C.
Brave New World
Brave New World is a classic dystopian novel that portrays a technologically advanced but dehumanized future society obsessed with control, consumerism, and engineered happiness.
-
D.
The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is a classic science fiction novel depicting a devastating Martian invasion of Earth and humanity’s struggle to survive.
-
E.
The Machine
The Machine is the nickname of Albert Pujols, a Dominican-American former Major League Baseball first baseman renowned for his remarkably consistent and powerful hitting.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Machine Stops Target entity description: The Machine Stops is a 1909 dystopian science fiction short story depicting a future society utterly dependent on an all-controlling technological system and the consequences when it fails.
-
A.
The Machine of the World
The Machine of the World is a famous allegorical vision in Luís de Camões’ epic poem *Os Lusíadas*, in which the cosmos and its secrets are revealed to the Portuguese explorers.
-
B.
The City and the Stars
The City and the Stars is a classic science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke that explores themes of immortality, memory, and the cyclical nature of civilization in a far-future utopian city.
-
C.
Brave New World
Brave New World is a classic dystopian novel that portrays a technologically advanced but dehumanized future society obsessed with control, consumerism, and engineered happiness.
-
D.
The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is a classic science fiction novel depicting a devastating Martian invasion of Earth and humanity’s struggle to survive.
-
E.
The Machine
The Machine is the nickname of Albert Pujols, a Dominican-American former Major League Baseball first baseman renowned for his remarkably consistent and powerful hitting.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
dystopian fiction work
ⓘ
science fiction work ⓘ short story ⓘ |
| author | E. M. Forster ⓘ |
| authorFullName |
Edward Morgan Forster
ⓘ
linked to:
E. M. Forster
|
| centralConcept | omnipresent technological system called the Machine ⓘ |
| centralTheme |
breakdown of technological systems
ⓘ
control and conformity ⓘ dehumanization through technology ⓘ dependence on technology ⓘ isolation of individuals ⓘ limits of progress ⓘ revolt against a totalizing system ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| depicts |
collapse of a centralized technological infrastructure
ⓘ
communication mediated entirely by technology ⓘ humanity living in isolated cells ⓘ |
| explores |
conflict between individual experience and collective norms
ⓘ
relationship between humans and machines ⓘ |
| firstPublished | 1909 ⓘ |
| form | prose ⓘ |
| genre |
dystopian fiction
ⓘ
science fiction ⓘ |
| hasAdaptation |
radio drama adaptations
ⓘ
stage adaptations ⓘ television adaptation ⓘ |
| hasBeenNotedFor |
anticipation of social media–like mediated interaction
ⓘ
anticipation of video conferencing ⓘ critique of technological utopianism ⓘ prescient depiction of networked communication ⓘ |
| influenced |
later dystopian literature
ⓘ
science fiction about networked technologies ⓘ |
| isOftenComparedTo |
Brave New World
ⓘ
Nineteen Eighty-Four ⓘ
linked to:
1984
|
| language | English ⓘ |
| length | short story ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod | early 20th-century literature ⓘ |
| mainCharacter | Vashti ⓘ |
| narrativePerspective | third-person narration ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | English ⓘ |
| originalPublicationMedium | The Oxford and Cambridge Review ⓘ |
| originalPublicationType | magazine ⓘ |
| protagonist | Kuno ⓘ |
| setting |
far future
ⓘ
underground society ⓘ |
| structure | three-part story ⓘ |
| televisionAdaptationBy | BBC ⓘ |
| televisionAdaptationYear | 1966 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Machine Stops Description of subject: The Machine Stops is a 1909 dystopian science fiction short story depicting a future society utterly dependent on an all-controlling technological system and the consequences when it fails.
Referenced by (6)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: The Machine Stops
linked to: The Machine Stops