Comments on Humanity and our potential to improve and grow

A common theme in science fiction literature is the usage of futuristic devices to comment on today’s problems. Things such as class division, direction of the human race, all authors of science fiction have something to say about it, such as H.G. Wells with his novel, The Time Machine. In the novel, the Time Traveler (as he is called, never referred to by name) goes into what he thinks will be the peak of human society, only to find, what else, class division between the Eloi, the simplistic small beings who live on the surface of the Earth, and the Morlocks, who live underground and are extremely threatening. Both of these species evolved out of human beings, and suffice to say it seems Wells thinks that maybe farther into the future humans will hit a peak, and maybe revert. I, for one, can see this. A future in which human beings get lazy and eventually just give up is unfortunately a plausible site today. For ever overachiever there’s just another trying to get by and do nothing with their lives, and I believe we should fight this. In Wells’ novel, the Morlocks even succumb to cannibalism by preying on the small, defenseless Eloi at night. An interesting point in the novel, that even the Time Traveler mentions, is that he does not know much about the Morlocks, and since they are the ones underground the “gradual widening of the present merely temporary and social difference between the capitalist and the labourer, was the key to the whole position.” (Wells, 41) He’s saying how even for all the efforts to peak in human capacity, we can still revert back to “someone always being better than the other”. There’s no compromise and it is bound to happen. Why, though? Why should humans go back and revert, which brings me to my point of people needing to live up to their potential. Human beings have an infinite amount of time to improve and grow upon the things that we learn. For humanity to devolve is the biggest insult we could give to society and life in general. This is why the beginning of the novel, which focuses on the narrator going to The Time Traveler’s house with a bunch of other colleagues to talk with the Time Traveler and his Time Machine, is important, because it shows how people view those who are eccentric. This got me thinking that just maybe we should embrace eccentricity a little more, because it can give us a path to follow that we may not have before, and it will help progress humanity and live up to our potential that we not just deserve, but it is our responsibility.