One of several "fantasies" written by Forster prior to World War I, "The Machine Stops" was written as "a counterblast to one of the heavens of H.G.Wells" (from the preface to the collection). Forster's prescient notions include cinemataphoes (machines which project visual images) and the ability for instantaneous simultaneous correspondence with multiple persons (E-mail!). This story works at a macro level in terms of our world's increasing dependence on technology, but even more effectively at a micro level in terms of the hospital environment and its tendency to smother physicians in training.