Perhaps the first great work of science fiction, imagine reading this newly published book in 1895. The premise is mind boggling, that of traveling in time to other eras. This was all in the height of the industrial era, when steam and light bulbs were still cutting edge technologies. I remember seeing the 1960 movie version of it and being bedazzled by its implications. The magical wonders of our technology vs the scary implications of a less than utopian future. Here's a good analysis of this classic tale and what it has come to mean over the centuries since its creation.
"Consider the year 1895. H.G. Wells gets his serial novel The Time Machine published in The New Review. This is before science fiction, in all its various forms, was a thing, before it knew what it was to become. The book is only 85 pages long, yet travels across some 800 millennia. Wells is credited as the first author to popularize the notion of time travel. It’s not the last time the concept pops up in fiction, though he couldn’t have known that then..."
https://samepageteam.com/2016/07/28/the-...aptations/
(Oct 23, 2025 07:37 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: [ -> ][...] Wells is credited as the first author to popularize the notion of time travel. [...] https://samepageteam.com/2016/07/28/the-...aptations/
That's probably true, since "time" is in the title itself and the method is something besides angels or getting bonked on the head:
List of time travel works of fiction (dating back to 1733).
“Clearly,” the Time Traveller proceeded, “Any real body must have extension in four directions: it must have Length, Breadth, Thickness, and Duration. But through a natural infirmity of the flesh, which I will explain to you in a moment, we incline to overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time. There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between the former three dimensions and the latter, because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives."
Wells was influenced by mathematicians of the late 19th-century, who first started applying the fourth dimension to time. Prior to that, it might seem remarkable that there could be any literature at all about time travel. Because we could typically assume that the various authors only entertained the commonsense conception of "now" existing (not the past and future).
(Oct 23, 2025 10:16 PM)C C Wrote: [ -> ] (Oct 23, 2025 07:37 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: [ -> ][...] Wells is credited as the first author to popularize the notion of time travel. [...] https://samepageteam.com/2016/07/28/the-...aptations/
That's probably true, since "time" is in the title itself and the method is something besides angels or getting bonked on the head: List of time travel works of fiction (dating back to 1733).
“Clearly,” the Time Traveller proceeded, “Any real body must have extension in four directions: it must have Length, Breadth, Thickness, and Duration. But through a natural infirmity of the flesh, which I will explain to you in a moment, we incline to overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time. There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between the former three dimensions and the latter, because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives."
Wells was influenced by mathematicians of the late 19th-century, who first started applying the fourth dimension to time. Prior to that, it might seem remarkable that there could be any literature at all about time travel. Because we could typically assume that the various authors only entertained the commonsense conception of "now" existing (not the past and future).
Off topic but..
The contrast between a species at its cleverest and at its stupidest .. maybe this is the point .. I have no words for it.
(Oct 23, 2025 11:41 PM)confused2 Wrote: [ -> ] (Oct 23, 2025 10:16 PM)C C Wrote: [ -> ] (Oct 23, 2025 07:37 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: [ -> ][...] Wells is credited as the first author to popularize the notion of time travel. [...] https://samepageteam.com/2016/07/28/the-...aptations/
That's probably true, since "time" is in the title itself and the method is something besides angels or getting bonked on the head: List of time travel works of fiction (dating back to 1733).
“Clearly,” the Time Traveller proceeded, “Any real body must have extension in four directions: it must have Length, Breadth, Thickness, and Duration. But through a natural infirmity of the flesh, which I will explain to you in a moment, we incline to overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time. There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between the former three dimensions and the latter, because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives."
Wells was influenced by mathematicians of the late 19th-century, who first started applying the fourth dimension to time. Prior to that, it might seem remarkable that there could be any literature at all about time travel. Because we could typically assume that the various authors only entertained the commonsense conception of "now" existing (not the past and future).
Off topic but..
The contrast between a species at its cleverest and at its stupidest .. maybe this is the point .. I have no words for it.
On the subject of words,
David Pearce (wikipedia.org) I think referred to it as "
Clever Sillys" in one of his talks. Another reference utilised by a University Professor speaking on the subject of having very bright students but were also too unsure of what to do in the world with themselves was "
Intelligent Sheep". Not sure if any of them would fit the bill, however it would suggest whatever term you'd use would likely end up being an oxymoron.
(Oct 23, 2025 07:37 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: [ -> ][...] The magical wonders of our technology vs the scary implications of a less than utopian future. ...
Yah, in the midst of all the socialist utopian works about the future written during that period,
The Time Machine was unique via going in the very opposite direction (despite Wells himself being a socialist). The lower class proles evolve into the cannibal Morlocks, and the bourgeoisie ironically turn into the hapless Eloi. The class struggle was never solved by the savior communists in Wells' world of tomorrow.
One of the 18th-century time travel works ("Anno 7603", published in 1781) prophetically concerned a future where gender roles were reversed.
And a lot of time travel fiction in the 19th-century concerned futures where women ruled. One was "New Amazonia", written by Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett.
We can see how the Marxist states of the 20th-century went wrong by some of the things that even feminist socialists considered utopian and "scientifically moral" in the 1880s...
New Amazonia (plot):
The history lesson is followed by a tour of the new society, which embodies a totalitarian version of state socialism.
Men are allowed to live on the island, but cannot hold political office: "masculine government has always held openings for the free admission of corruption, injustice, immorality, and narrow-minded, self-glorifying bigotry."
State offices and important professional posts are also restricted to the never-married.
The Amazonians are vegetarians, and the state ensures that only healthful foods are available. Alcohol and tobacco are prohibited.
Euthanasia eliminates the incurably insane, persistent criminals, and malformed or illegitimate children. Suicide is expected of the very feeble.
Adultery in women is punished by a lifetime of manual work, in men by stripping of property followed by deportation.
All children are "considered the property of the state"; having more than four children brings punishment.
The state controls and profits from all imports and exports (notably Irish linen and lace). The shores are closely watched to prevent smuggling.
Immigration is strictly controlled to exclude loafers.
All citizens receive basic military training and form a militia that has proved sufficient to repel invasions.
Electro-hydraulic cars run by the government provide quiet and emissionless transportation everywhere on the island. There is a graceful and comfortable but compulsory national dress. Everything is run on scientific principles. "No sooner is anything condemned by the Mother [i.e. government], than its importation or manufacture is strictly forbidden."
Poverty, squalor, and sickness are all virtually unknown; purity, peace, health, harmony, and comfort reign.