@Skavenblight: Neal Stephenson. The king of all cyberpunks. Author of Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, and The Baroque Cycle of books. I especially liked the Baroque Cycle even though it's three books are literally the length of a couple Bibles. You owe it to yourself to read Cryptonomicon, at the very least.As a teaser, In The Beginning Was the Command Line can be found reprinted here, since it's probably the shortest of his books in print:<a class="user" href="http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/nealstephensonOS.html">http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/nealstephensonOS.html</a>
"HG was a well known left-wing activist in his time"The label of "left" and "right" without any further analysis is misleading. H.G. Wells was extremely supportive of eugenics and improving the human species. If H.G. Wells was left-wing, it's only in the manner of wanting working people to have a fairer share of their production, which even Hitler advocated, but not in the bulls**t egalitarianism so prevalent in the left-wing today.<a class="user" href="http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1568/">http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1568/</a>H.G. Wells advocated: "the procreation of what is fine and efficient and beautiful in humanity—beautiful and strong bodies, clear and powerful minds … and to check the procreation of base and servile types … of all that is mean and ugly and bestial in the souls, bodies, or habits of men."The genius of the Time Machine was in laying out a plot that could compel readers to consider the long-term accumulated affects of current policies. Idiocracy had a similar plot, but was more explicit in the root of the future change. If humans AREN'T a blank slate, as all the natural evidence of evolution and biology prove, then as world population increases, we need to seriously take a look at ways to improve the quality of people. Sterilizing those who would have never survived without the crutch of civilization is a rational solution. Encouraging the best to mate with the best, as advocated by Plato, Darwin, H.G. Wells, along with Hitler (to his merit), is common sense. The past and present generations can't be improved, but the future ones can.
I guess Mr. Wells should have Googled that first, or maybe checked the Wiki page on time travel. 1895, that's quite some time ago for such novel thoughts.
@BeyondGoodnEvilI am disgusted that you think just because someone has a handicap/disability/etc that they cannot contribute to society. Sure there are annoying people, but those people bring joy to the people in their life. Just because they don't bring joy to you doesn't mean they should be eliminated. All human beings have worth. Oh wait I forgot, since Darwin, most of society has been taught that human beings are just a random mutation over millions of years.
liquidfusionJun 10, 2007
An excellent book by a great writer.The Time Ships is the best book I've ever read.
brotherfigureJun 10, 2007
@Skavenblight: Neal Stephenson. The king of all cyberpunks. Author of Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, and The Baroque Cycle of books. I especially liked the Baroque Cycle even though it's three books are literally the length of a couple Bibles. You owe it to yourself to read Cryptonomicon, at the very least.As a teaser, In The Beginning Was the Command Line can be found reprinted here, since it's probably the shortest of his books in print:<a class="user" href="http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/nealstephensonOS.html">http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/nealstephensonOS.html</a>
Closed AccountJun 11, 2007
"HG was a well known left-wing activist in his time"The label of "left" and "right" without any further analysis is misleading. H.G. Wells was extremely supportive of eugenics and improving the human species. If H.G. Wells was left-wing, it's only in the manner of wanting working people to have a fairer share of their production, which even Hitler advocated, but not in the bulls**t egalitarianism so prevalent in the left-wing today.<a class="user" href="http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1568/">http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1568/</a>H.G. Wells advocated: "the procreation of what is fine and efficient and beautiful in humanity—beautiful and strong bodies, clear and powerful minds … and to check the procreation of base and servile types … of all that is mean and ugly and bestial in the souls, bodies, or habits of men."The genius of the Time Machine was in laying out a plot that could compel readers to consider the long-term accumulated affects of current policies. Idiocracy had a similar plot, but was more explicit in the root of the future change. If humans AREN'T a blank slate, as all the natural evidence of evolution and biology prove, then as world population increases, we need to seriously take a look at ways to improve the quality of people. Sterilizing those who would have never survived without the crutch of civilization is a rational solution. Encouraging the best to mate with the best, as advocated by Plato, Darwin, H.G. Wells, along with Hitler (to his merit), is common sense. The past and present generations can't be improved, but the future ones can.
classicqJun 11, 2007
This account has been closed by the user
suckitupJun 11, 2007
I guess Mr. Wells should have Googled that first, or maybe checked the Wiki page on time travel. 1895, that's quite some time ago for such novel thoughts.
seren2399Jun 11, 2007
@BeyondGoodnEvilI am disgusted that you think just because someone has a handicap/disability/etc that they cannot contribute to society. Sure there are annoying people, but those people bring joy to the people in their life. Just because they don't bring joy to you doesn't mean they should be eliminated. All human beings have worth. Oh wait I forgot, since Darwin, most of society has been taught that human beings are just a random mutation over millions of years.
glumbeagleAug 13, 2007
lol! If you think that's depressing, try reading Wells' short story "The Country of the Blind": <a class="user" href="http://www.shortstoryarchive.com/w/country_of_the_blind.html">http://www.shortstoryarchive.com/w/country_of_the_blind.html</a>
glumbeagleAug 13, 2007
Yup. If the human race doesn't spread out into the universe, we're doomed. 'Cause you know we'll blow this planet up someday.