Was Wells prophetic?

[Moorkey]

I may be sounding the tadgest bit silly here, but my mind has wondered onto one subject.

Wells depicted a superior force overwhelming an inferior, yet sentient, race with weapons so advanced they appear almost fantastical. This same force finally succumbs to disease.

Meanwhile, in the real world...

The conquest of Africa and the middle east was taking place. Men with guns, trucks, and Aeroplanes, that would appear magical to the native tribes, would plundr and loot, without major resistance.

Now, diseases like Ebola, and Aids, which have been traced back to Africa, threaten to, at least, kill off a lot of people.

To me, the parrallel is uncanny. Don't know about anyone else.

Am I just being silly?

[mctoddridesagain]

Nah, I doubt it, because I don't think there is an attempt at prophecy. Wells had in mind the fact that Western incursions into the rest of the world often resulted in the decimation of native populations by Western diseases: smallpox, TB, syphilis and other delights in the Americas and Australasia, for example. Thus, not only were native populations suffering from the usual application of superior Western power, they were also afflicted by diseases introduced by their conquerors. In that respect, I think Wells inverted the usual situation for ironic effect (a warning against complacency) and to give him a great coup de theatre of an ending.

As a result, I don't think he was prophecying diseases from the developing world afflicting the West, although yes, you may see some kind of ironic parallel. However, I doubt even that, as in any case, the new diseases affect their places of origin far more than they affect the West (AIDS is a catastrophe for Africa, but by comparison merely an unpleasant inconvenience for the West; Ebola and chums are hardly a blip on the radar, sensationalistic films notwithstanding). For there to be a parallel with WotW, the populations of London and the Home Counties would have to have been decimated by a pretty nasty disease which merely inconveniences the Martians.

[Lensman]

Wells had many themes in War of the Worlds, and most or all of those themes are still relevant today. This is one of the reasons the novel still holds our interest over a century later, and why there are so many active in this forum.

I agree with McTodd that Wells wasn't deliberately trying to be prophetic, but it's still interesting to discuss the possibility that he was without intending to be!

[Charles]

An underlying theme of The War of the Worlds - as well as Wells’ scientific romances in general - is the importance of anticipation. Not surprisingly it was the title of his famous 1901 forecast of the 20th century. But such anticipation of future challenges and conflicts quickly becomes tiresome because of its vague an inexact nature; often it requires the utmost discipline to continue anticipating the future when old ideas prove to be non-events or even wrong. But – and this is the point – it helps keep us from becoming complacent. As Wells wrote in The Time Machine, “we are kept keen on the grindstone of pain and necessity.” There can be rest for the individual, but the human race must continue to struggle for existence; against ourselves and the natural world. Wells’ great hope was that we would someday cease competing with one another and begin cooperating, for the benefit of all mankind - leaving only the natural world to ‘struggle’ with…

[Moorkey]

Sorry to those I have confused with my poor grasp of my own native language, but by 'prophetic' I meant do you think Wells saw this situation coming?

I did not mean 'Was Wells a long-bearded hermit who spent his days staring into a bowl of water looking for things that might yet be?'

Again, sorry.