The Discovery of the Future
Author | H. G. Wells |
---|---|
Original title | The Discovery of the Future: A Discourse Delivered to the Royal Institution on January 24, 1902 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Subject | Future |
Genre | Philosophical literature |
Publisher | T. Fisher Unwin |
Publication date | 1902 |
Pages | 95 |
Preceded by | Anticipations |
Followed by | The Sea Lady |
The Discovery of the Future is a 1902 philosophical lecture by H. G. Wells that argues for the knowability of the future. It was originally delivered to the Royal Institution on January 24, 1902. Before appearing in book form, it was published by Richard Gregory in Nature on February 6, 1902,[1] and was also published as part of the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution.[2] Available online.[3]
Synopsis
Wells begins by distinguishing between "two divergent types of mind," one that judges and attaches importance principally to what has happened in the past and one that judges and attaches importance principally to what will happen in the future. To the former he attributes the adjectives "legal or submissive," "passive," and "oriental," and to the latter the adjectives "legislative, creative, organizing, or masterful," and "active," calling it "a more modern and much less abundant type of mind."[4]
Observing that these two minds reach "divergent and incompatible consequences" in the spheres of morality and public affairs, Wells analyzes the reasons for which the past-oriented mind predominates and asserts that this is principally due to the evidently greater knowability of the personal past as compared to the future. But he argues that the inference from this attitude that the future is essentially unknowable does not square with "modern science, that is to say the relentless systematic criticism of phenomena."[5] Not only has science made us knowledgeable about a distant, impersonal past, it also regards the ability successfully to predict to be a criterion of validity. Though the unpredictability of human behavior complicates the problem, the fact that "as individuals increase in number they begin to average out" means that "an inductive knowledge of a great number of things in the future is becoming a human possibility."[6] Confessing himself to be among "those who believe entirely in the forces behind the individual" rather than in individuals themselves as determining causes, Wells argues that there is "no reason why we should not aspire to, and discover and use, safe and servicable, generalizations upon countless issues in the human destiny."[7] But personal prophecy and fortune-telling will never be possible; "the knowledge of the future we may hope to gain will be general and not individual."[8]
Wells devotes the last part of his text to speculations about "the question what is to come after man," considering it "the most persistently fascinating and the most insoluble question in the whole world."[9] He concludes with a statement of personal faith "in the coherency and purpose in the world and in the greatness of human destiny."[10]
Background
Wells's lecture followed on the heels of the great success of his recent book, Anticipations (1901), based on a series of articles commissioned in 1900 by W.L. Courtney for the Fortnightly Review, but the original invitation to lecture to the Royal Institution had come in 1899.[11]
According to Graham Wallas, Wells's delivery of his lecture was too rapid, but it was well received and contributed to the rapid integration of the 35-year-old Wells into the literary and intellectual elite of London in 1902.[12]
References
- ^ Norman and Jeanne Mackenzie, H.G. Wells: A Biography (Simon & Schuster, 1973), p. 161.
- ^ Michael Sherborne, H.G. Wells: Another Kind of Life (Peter Owen, 2010), p. 154.
- ^ The Discovery of the Future. B. W. Huebsch. 1913.
- ^ H.G. Wells, The Discovery of the Future (New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1913), pp. 6-7.
- ^ H.G. Wells, The Discovery of the Future (New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1913), pp. 27-28.
- ^ H.G. Wells, The Discovery of the Future (New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1913), pp. 39; 33.
- ^ H.G. Wells, The Discovery of the Future (New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1913), p. 40.
- ^ H.G. Wells, The Discovery of the Future (New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1913), p. 46.
- ^ H.G. Wells, The Discovery of the Future (New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1913), p. 50.
- ^ H.G. Wells, The Discovery of the Future (New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1913), p. 56.
- ^ Norman and Jeanne Mackenzie, H.G. Wells: A Biography (Simon & Schuster, 1973), pp. 161-62. The full title of the volume was Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress Upon Human Life and Thought.
- ^ Michael Sherborne, H.G. Wells: Another Kind of Life (Peter Owen, 2010), pp. 154-55.
External links
- The Discovery of the Future at Project Gutenberg
- The Discovery of the Future public domain audiobook at LibriVox
- v
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- The Wonderful Visit (1895)
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- The Invisible Man (1897)
- The War of the Worlds (1898)
- When the Sleeper Wakes (1899)
- Love and Mr Lewisham (1900)
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- Kipps (1905)
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- The Passionate Friends (1913)
- The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914)
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- Bealby (1915)
- Boon (1915)
- The Research Magnificent (1915)
- Mr. Britling Sees It Through (1916)
- The Soul of a Bishop (1917)
- Joan and Peter (1918)
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- The Secret Places of the Heart (1922)
- Men Like Gods (1923)
- The Dream (1924)
- Christina Alberta's Father (1925)
- The World of William Clissold (1926)
- Meanwhile (1927)
- Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island (1928)
- The Autocracy of Mr. Parham (1930)
- The Bulpington of Blup (1932)
- The Shape of Things to Come (1933)
- The Croquet Player (1936)
- Brynhild (1937)
- Star Begotten (1937)
- The Camford Visitation (1937)
- Apropos of Dolores (1938)
- The Brothers (1938)
- The Holy Terror (1939)
- Babes in the Darkling Wood (1940)
- All Aboard for Ararat (1940)
- You Can't Be Too Careful (1941)
- Anticipations
- Certain Personal Matters
- Crux Ansata
- The Discovery of the Future
- An Englishman Looks at the World
- Experiment in Autobiography
- The Fate of Man
- First and Last Things
- Floor Games
- The Future in America
- God the Invisible King
- In the Fourth Year
- Little Wars
- Mankind in the Making
- Mind at the End of Its Tether
- Mr. Belloc Objects to "The Outline of History"
- The New America
- The New World Order
- New Worlds for Old
- The Open Conspiracy
- The Outline of History
- Russia in the Shadows
- The Science of Life
- A Short History of the World
- The Story of a Great Schoolmaster
- This Misery of Boots
- Travels of a Republican Radical in Search of Hot Water
- War and the Future
- The Way the World Is Going
- The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind
- World Brain
- A Year of Prophesying
- "Æpyornis Island"
- "The Argonauts of the Air"
- "The Beautiful Suit"
- "The Chronic Argonauts"
- "The Cone"
- "The Country of the Blind"
- "The Crystal Egg"
- "A Deal in Ostriches"
- "The Diamond Maker"
- "The Door in the Wall"
- "A Dream of Armageddon"
- "The Empire of the Ants"
- "In the Abyss"
- "The Land Ironclads"
- "Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation"
- "The Lord of the Dynamos"
- "The Man Who Could Work Miracles"
- "The New Accelerator"
- "The Pearl of Love"
- "The Plattner Story"
- "The Queer Story of Brownlow's Newspaper"
- "The Red Room"
- "The Sea Raiders"
- "The Star"
- "The Stolen Body"
- "A Story of the Days to Come"
- "A Story of the Stone Age"
- "Triumphs of a Taxidermist"
- "The Truth About Pyecraft"
- "A Vision of Judgment"
- Things to Come (1936)
- The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1937)
- Political views
- G. P. Wells
- Anthony West (son)
- Joseph Wells (father)
- Simon Wells (great-grandson)
- H. G. Wells Society
- Lunar crater
- Time After Time (1979 film)