EM Forster’s short story “The Machine Stops” from 1909 is widely reread and discussed again for some ten years as it portrays a science-fiction world resting on similar technological advancements as today in the digital era. Also management literature reviewed the short story with regard to centralized decision making, rationality and totalitarianism. I argue instead, that the main theme of the short story is – in Forster’s own words – the closing of a civilization in times of transition and facing major challenges. I built the argument by original quotes from Forster and by portraying the years 1906–9, when Forster developed the short story. This era before the Great War starting in 1914 was characterized by euphoric ‘futurism’ based on groundbreaking innovations like ‘long distance messaging’, ‘penny post’, ‘animated films’, Ford’s assembly line, ‘Olivetti typewriter’, ‘feature film’, ‘large ships’ and ‘air transportation’ – the ingredients of the short story as I argue. At the same time these acquitted years were characterized by increasing disintegration, instability, rebellions and a financial crisis with bailout programs. Based on the analogy and as part of speculative philosophy I reconstruct the current great challenges with Forster’ shadow of fatalism and arrive at the urgency to put more effort in addressing and researching pathways out of the crisis and towards stabilization of business and society.

EM Forster 1909 年的短篇小说“机器停止”被广泛重读和讨论了大约十年，因为它描绘了一个依赖于与今天数字时代类似的技术进步的科幻世界。管理文献还回顾了关于集中决策、理性和极权主义的短篇小说。相反，我认为，短篇小说的主题是——用福斯特自己的话来说——文明在转型和面临重大挑战时的终结。我引用了福斯特的原话，并描绘了 1906-9 年福斯特创作这部短篇小说的年代，以此来构建论点。在 1914 年开始的大战之前，这个时代的特点是基于突破性创新的欣快“未来主义”，如“长途信息”、“便士邮政”、“动画电影”、福特的装配线、“Olivetti 打字机”、“故事片”、“大型轮船”和“航空运输”——我认为短篇小说的成分。与此同时，这些无罪释放的岁月的特点是解体、不稳定、叛乱和金融危机与救助计划的增加。基于类比​​，作为思辨哲学的一部分，我用福斯特宿命论的阴影重构了当前的巨大挑战，并得出迫切需要付出更多努力来解决和研究摆脱危机以及实现企业和社会稳定的途径。