EDCMOOC discussion

January's read is The Time Machine by HG Wells.

We will discuss this book on Saturday 1st February (or Sunday for NZ) 21:30GMT.

This book is free for Kindle, or from Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35

Please post any topics/themes you would like to discuss below.

Also - please cast your vote for what to read in February https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/9...

Thanks
K

A few ideas for topics...

"There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space. Except that our consciousness moves along it" (I liked this quote!)

1. Are the Eloi and the Morlocks human? Was the Time Traveller's disgust at the Morlocks justified?

2. Do humans need struggle (eg against nature, each other) to progress?

"There were no signs of struggle, neither social nor economical struggle"

3. How did Wells view nature? What social commentary is he making?

"The whole world will be intelligent, educated and cooperating; things will move faster and faster towards the subjugation of nature."

4. Was the Time Traveller optimistic or pessimistic about our future?

Also, Wells referred to the sun throughout the book, I wonder what significance this had?

"It seemed to me that I had happened upon humanity upon the wane... the sunset of mankind"

Also, the simplicity of the Eloi reminded me of the Island (Huxley), although they had no struggles as such but were functioning very well as a society.

Please add your thoughts

K

Kc wrote: "A few ideas for topics...
"

Ahoj!
I've only read the first half so far but I like your second topic with the hypothesis of the Traveller. Could the state of a perfect security (social and material with technology) lead to a decline in intelligence of humanity ?

"The too-perfect security of the Upper-worlders had led them to a slow movement of degeneration, to a general dwindling in size, strength, and intelligence."

Stirring thought K: are the Eloi or the Morlocks indeed human? Which dimension did the machine travel to - was that controllable? With just a couple? of levers - a linear concept of time?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._We... gave me a genre name for what I thought was a similar approach to Morris's News From Nowhere (1890):
"In Britain, Wells' work was a key model for the British "Scientific Romance"..."
The Time Machine was published 1895. But unlike Forster's protagonist (twas just a dream?), the time traveller supposedly never returned.

Another repeated motif was candle-light (in England) and match-light (in Eloi/Morlock land), in addition to the sun as sources of light. And popular use of domestic electric lighting only began likely in the early twentieth century (eg.http://energy.gov/articles/history-li...). Juxtaposed with the notion of a time machine rather wicked, though EM Forster's The Machine Stops was published in 1909; both touching on human-industrial relationships eg. "The story reflects Wells's own socialist political views, his view on life and abundance, and the contemporary angst about industrial relations: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time... a ghastly projected 'what-goes-around-comes-around'?

He (Time Traveller/HG Wells?) was also incredibly botanically-focussed! A lot of flower mentions.

And with the earth being back to being so fecund, how could there not be other creatures to have evolved around for the Morlocks to eat, or for the vegetarian Eloi to be eaten by? Maybe there's only so much room for conceptual development in a novella http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella.

K, excellent insights and questions!
The first one (are they human) is very much edcmooc related!

I selected two quotes that are too long for Twitter, so I post them here.
They relate to K's second proposed question:
"Under the new conditions of perfect comfort and security, that restless energy, that with us is strength, would become weakness. Even in our own
time certain tendencies and desires, once necessary to survival, are a constant source of failure. Physical courage and the love of battle, for instance, are no great help - may even be hindrances - to a civilized man. And in a state of physical balance and security, power, intellectual as well as physical, would be out of place."
"It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An animal perfecty in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism. Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers."

My question: do you think the chosen year in the future (802 701 AD) has any meaning? Or are they just random numbers?

There were some excellent quotes in this book. It's very rich. I highlighted those quotes too Asta. I wonder about the year - can't think of anything?

The constant references to light, the sun, candles etc. stood out - I hadn't thought of it as related to new lighting, but also light/fire was a technical innovation. The world would have been so dark. Light is also used as a metaphor for science and progress (Joseph Wright http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesi...)

I'll use the 4 questions but also add:

5. What was significant about the times the TT travelled to? How has the book influenced our cultural ideas about time travel?

Thanks all!