I finished The Time Machine by H.G. Wells the other day. This is the second book I’ve read by him, the first being The War of the Worlds. I quite like his writing style. The Time Machine, as I understood it, is more of a political statement than a science fiction book about time travel. It’s a warning to humanity that this quest for the perfect world, the quest to remove all hardship will backfire if done in the way it’s currently being handled.

H.G. Wells wrote the book in the late 1800s and saw then this trend towards all play and no work. It’s worse now. Think about all our modern inventions: cars, planes, computers, microwave ovens, refrigerators, heating, air conditioning, TV, iPods, bread makers, etc. All these things can make life easier and can even allow us to spend more time on what matters most to us. But where does the luxury stop? If the current course follows it won’t be too long before everything is all taken care of for us. What happens when so much is done for us that we forget to do things any other way? What happens if it all goes away? With all the computerized advances cars are making, they’re getting harder to fix. I don’t even know how to fix a traditional car without any computers in it, let alone these new amazing pieces of machinery.

With all the technological and even biological advances we are making, we would be wise to learn how to live without it all. Life without all our present luxuries (for that is what they are) is not frightening if you’re prepared.