Here we go with Part Four of my serialization of H G Wells' classic The Time Machine, the second of our Tales for Our Time. This tale is a sci-fi classic, first published by H G Wells in The New Review in 1895. We are supposedly in the year 802,701, but many aspects of life seem to have stepped out of the early 21st century. In today's episode, Wells' Time Traveler has his first dinner with the Eloi and is struck by the way the sexes appear to have converged:
In a flash, I perceived that all had the same form of costume, the same soft hairless visage, and the same girlish rotundity of limb. It may seem strange, perhaps, that I had not noticed this before. But everything was so strange. Now, I saw the fact plainly enough. In costume, and in all the differences of texture and bearing that now mark off the sexes from each other, these people of the future were alike. And the children seemed to my eyes to be but the miniatures of their parents. I judged, then, that the children of that time were extremely precocious, physically at least, and I found afterwards abundant verification of my opinion.
Seeing the ease and security in which these people were living, I felt that this close resemblance of the sexes was after all what one would expect; for the strength of a man and the softness of a woman, the institution of the family, and the differentiation of occupations are mere militant necessities of an age of physical force; where population is balanced and abundant, much childbearing becomes an evil rather than a blessing to the State; where violence comes but rarely and off-spring are secure, there is less necessity—indeed there is no necessity—for an efficient family, and the specialization of the sexes with reference to their children's needs disappears. We see some beginnings of this even in our own time, and in this future age it was complete.
The Eloi of 800,000 AD? Or a safe space of non-binary semi-transitioned snowflakes?
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear Part Four of our adventure simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here down the page and in reverse order.
~Founding Member Steven Bowler writes with an ingenious suggestion:
Mark,
Why not convert The Mark Steyn Club to "The Mark Steyn Foundation" a la Pant-suit and Pant-dropper. The Mark Steyn Foundation would only have to direct 5% of its "donations" to support the needy, and we could all feel much more superior about ourselves.Incidentally, and I may have read this in one of your columns somewhere: have you noticed a strange singularity in the fact that Hillary likes to put her pant(suits) on all the time, while Bill likes take his pants off? They were made for one another.
Regards,
Steven Bowler
Well, it's an ingenious suggestion. These days, the non-profits are where the big bucks are: look at the Poverty Law Center. But I don't think I have a charitable concern that resonates with so many kind-hearted Gulf sheikhs and Kazakh oligarchs as evidently diarrhea in Africa does - or did, until November 9th last year, when the market for seven-figure speeches on African diarrhea mysteriously dried up.
Oh, well. Founder Membership is now closed, so thank you to all our official Club Founders, and here's to many years of convivial back-and-forth on civilizational collapse and other cheery subjects. If you'd like to sign up a friend or relative, we do have a new Gift Membership category - and, if you make sure you enter your Founder's Friend promo code, you'll receive a special discount.
See you for Part Five of The Time Machine tomorrow.
