For the fourth week of our History of the Future class we
have one novel by famous writer H.G. Wells. The novel, The Time Machine, is completely different from earlier future
society stories in that the general outlook of the future is bleak. Instead of
seeing incredible feats of scientific marvel, our main character the time
traveler instead finds a humanity completely lacking science. The environment
remains beautiful with its green grass and wonderful fruits, but the
surrounding landscape is dotted with relics of the past. The new “humans” are
short, naïve, and innocent creatures. The time traveler calls the upper world
inhabitants Elois and theorizes that they are the result of the Darwinian
evolution of aristocracy. Living a life of leisure and comfort, the Eloi
eventually lost the vigor of survival that fueled advancement. In contrast
another group of humans have developed into white ape like spiders called Morlocks.
They are the proletariat laborers forced underground by the aristocrats, doomed
to maintain the machinery of the above ground utopia. Yet the years of
evolution have reversed the positions of the aristocrats and proletariats. The cannibalistic
Morlocks now prey on the Eloi as a source of food.
The story is in a sense a dystopia. Humans have diverged into
two different species: Eloi and Morlock. The beauty of the aboveground hides
the ugliness of the underground. However upon a closer inspection, the theories
of the time traveler do not make sense. We in the present 21st
century are privileged to know that evolution is a long and arduous process
that takes thousands of years. The faulty logic lies in the poor understanding
of evolution in Charles Darwin’s time. If the proletariat did end up being
trapped underground the lack of food supplies would have plagued them with a
battery of different nutrition deficiencies. The mortality would have reached
unprecedented heights. Most likely the humans underground would die out by
simply not having enough to eat and drink. Evolution only works when the
species can successfully reproduce and adapt to their environmental conditions.
The humans above ground would not be able to complete scientific perfection
considering the fact that humans are all imperfect. The rivalries between the
aristocrats would lead to considerable infighting leaving the negative emotions
consistently present. Those of the more sympathetic brand would release a
select number of the “proletariat” from their underground prisons. The
so-called “survival of the fittest” would still apply due to general human
interactions both above and below ground.
The time traveler’s incorrect take on evolution is not
surprising considering the massive misunderstandings of many people of Charles
Darwin’s work. Social Darwinists claimed that evolution was doing its work of
“survival of the fittest” when plaguing the poor with social and physical
problems. Lamarckists believed that the organisms could pass down physical
traits. Creationist labeled Darwinism as atheism. Eugenics movements would
later claim to perfect humanity by artificially selecting for superior genes. Darwin
himself did not know the science behind genetics. Humans are shaped according
to both nature and nurture (Refer to the diathesis-stress model). This story of
two future species of mankind is another piece of literature that does not fully
understand evolution.
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