19th-century 19th-century-literature action advanced-technology adventure age-of-imperialism alien alien-civilization alien-civilizations alien-world alienation allegorical allegory alternate-future alternate-futures alternate-history alternate-realities alternate-reality alternate-timeline alternate-timelines alternative-history apocalyptic british-literature cautionary-tale civilization class-divide class-division class-struggle class-system classic classic-literature classics colonization critique critique-of-industrialization critique-of-society cultural-critique dark distant-future dystopia dystopian dystopian-fiction dystopian-future dystopian-society eloi england english-literature entropy escapism evolution evolutionary-biology evolutionary-theory existential existentialism exploration exploration-of-time extraterrestrial-life fantasy fear fear-of-progress fear-of-the-unknown future future-civilization future-civilizations future-dystopia future-predictions future-societies future-society future-technology future-world futurism futuristic futuristic-society futuristic-technology futurology h.-g. h.-g.-wells h.g.-wells historical-fiction history human-civilization human-evolution human-nature human-progress humanity humanitys-destiny humanitys-evolution imaginary-technology imaginary-world imaginary-worlds imagination imaginative industrial-revolution inequality innovation intellectual invention inventions isolation journey literary london loneliness loss-of-humanity machine machinery machines moral-decay moral-dilemmas morality morlocks mystery novel novella paradox parallel-universe parallel-universes pessimism philosophical philosophical-ideas philosophical-themes philosophy philosophy-of-time post-apocalyptic powerful-narrative progress prophecy protagonist robotics sci-fi science science-and-technology science-fantasy science-fiction scientific scientific-discovery scientific-ethics scientific-experiment scientific-experimentation scientific-experiments scientific-exploration scientific-invention scientific-inventions scientific-progress scientific-romance scientific-speculation social-class social-classes social-commentary social-criticism social-critique social-darwinism social-hierarchy social-inequality societal-collapse societal-critique societal-decay society society-and-class speculation speculative speculative-fiction speculative-future speculative-technology steampunk subterranean-civilization survival suspense technological-advancement technological-advancements technological-innovation technological-progress technology thought-provoking time-dilation time-machine time-manipulation time-paradox time-paradoxes time-travel time-travel-machine time-traveler utopia utopia-and-dystopia utopia-vs-dystopia utopian utopian-ideals utopian-society victorian victorian-england victorian-era victorian-literature victorian-society visionary warning wells wellsian world-building wormhole