England in THE TIME MACHINE

[raccoon]

In THE TIME MACHINE, the Time Traveller travels to the year 802701. He remarks that the earth (at least where he was) was much hotter than it had been at the end of the 19th Century.

The Time Traveller lived in London. If the earth was much hotter, would any of the area--or maybe the whole area--be underwater? Other than saying that the Thames has shifted its course, he doesn't say anything about this.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Wells didn't know what we do

First of all, around the time he was writing (1895), geological time scale was smaller by a factor of 10-50. In other words, the Earth was thought to be a few hundred million years old -- maybe. Heck, even Lord Kelvin underestimated the speed of light by a factor of ten just a decade before; in 1906-8, young Albert Einstein would propound the Theories of Relativity (General and Special).

The causes and cycles of the Ice Ages weren't even really known then. If London was under a mile of ice in 15,000 BCE and temperate in 1895, then it stood to reason that it would be tropical in 802,701 CE. Right? Well, not really, but Wells worked from limited data.

But, ultimately, The Time Machine was a piece of fiction written to comment on class divisions and (elitist) Fabian Socialist attitudes toward them. The Eloi were the intellectual Bourgeoisie, and the Morlocks were the Industrial Proletariat, agricultural peasantry, and destitute. The Time Traveler was Wells' alter-ego, of the detatched observer, and he almost didn't get back.

In 800,000 years, there are likely to be 7 or 8 glacial cycles. The British Isles will be under deep ice again at least as many times. The Thames will probably not exist after our own inter-stadial warm period ends. And with better understanding of how the world works, those who build on Wells' achievement will be able to make better "predictions" and create more believable fictional worlds.

--p!

[raccoon]

2. Thanks!

THE TIME MACHINE has been one of my favorite books for a long time.