Résumé: Machine of Death "Machine of Death" tells 34 stories about people who know how they will die. The machine doesn't give the date or specifics; using only a blood sample, it just spits out a sliver of paper upon which are printed, in careful block letters, words such as "drowned, cancer, old age, " or "choked on a handful of popcorn." The realization that we could now know how we are going to die changes the world: Full description