19th-century 19th-century-literature action advanced-society advanced-technology adventure alien alien-civilization alien-civilizations alien-worlds alienation allegory alternate-future alternate-history alternate-realities alternate-reality alternate-timeline alternative-history apocalyptic british-literature capitalism cautionary cautionary-tale civilization class-divide class-division class-stratification class-struggle class-system classic classic-literature classics colonization dark destiny dystopia dystopian dystopian-fiction dystopian-future dystopian-society eloi engineering english-literature entropy escapism evolution evolutionary-theory existential existentialism exploration exploration-of-time extraterrestrial-life fantasy fear-of-progress fear-of-the-future future future-dystopia future-predictions future-societies future-society future-technology future-world futurism futuristic futuristic-technology futurology general h.-g. h.-g.-wells h.g.-wells human-civilization human-condition human-evolution human-nature human-progress human-society humanity humanitys-destiny imaginary-world imaginary-worlds imagination imaginative industrial-revolution inequality innovation intellectual invention inventions isolation journey london loneliness machine machine-civilization machinery mankinds-decline manufactures manufacturing moral-decay moral-dilemmas morality morlocks mystery novella optics optoelectronics paradox parallel-universe parallel-universes pessimism philosophical philosophical-ponderings philosophical-themes philosophy photonicslasertechnology physicalandtheoreticalchemistry physicalorganicchemistry physics plasmonicsandopticaldevices post-apocalyptic progress prophecy protagonist quantumoptics questions-of-existence rfandopticalengineeringmicrowaves sci-fi science science-and-technology science-fantasy science-fiction scientific scientific-advancement scientific-discovery scientific-ethics scientific-experiment scientific-experiments scientific-exploration scientific-invention scientific-inventions scientific-progress scientific-romance scientific-speculation social-class social-commentary social-criticism social-critique social-darwinism social-disintegration social-hierarchy social-inequality societal-collapse societal-critique societal-decay societal-division society solidstatephysics spectroscopyandmicroscopy speculation speculative speculative-fiction speculative-science speculative-technology steampunk subterranean-civilization survival suspense symbolism technological-advancement technological-advancements technological-exploration technological-innovation technological-progress technology the-future thought-provoking time-dilation time-machine time-manipulation time-paradox time-paradoxes time-travel time-traveler tools utopia utopian utopian-ideals utopian-society victorian victorian-england victorian-era victorian-literature victorian-society visionary warning wells wellsian worldbuilding wormhole