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# 2021-03-19 - Men Like Gods by H.G. Wells
I listened to the LibriVox audiobook and the production value was
quite good.
I enjoyed the premise of this book. It starts in England after WW1.
A group of people from England are accidentally transported to an
Earth-like planet in a parallel universe. They arrive at an
anarchist utopia populated by more highly evolved human beings. The
Utopians have a greater grasp of the physical sciences than the
Earthlings do. Utopia's population is far smaller Earth's. Utopians
have a global communication network similar to the Internet, and are
able to open "Stargate" portals to other universes. These ideas seem
pretty advanced for a book published in 1923.
The Utopians also embody regressive ideas including human supremacy,
racism, and sexism, though to lesser degrees than the Earthlings.
Below is a link to illustrations by George Bellows:
(HTM) http://www.georgebellows.com/gallery/category/men-like-gods-series
Below are some quotes:
"And I am equally hostile to you and exasperated and repelled by you
when you speak of religion proper. You make religion disgusting just
as you make sex disgusting. You are a dirty priest. What YOU call
Christianity is a black and ugly superstition, a mere excuse for
malignity and persecution. It is an outrage upon Christ. If you are
a Christian, then most passionately I declare myself NOT a Christian.
But there are other meanings for Christianity than those you put
upon it, and in another sense this Utopia here is Christian beyond
all dreaming. Utterly beyond your understanding. We have come into
this glorious world, which, compared to our world, is like a bowl of
crystal compared to an old tin can, and you have the insufferable
impudence to say that we have been sent hither as missionaries to
teach them..."
"All his life he had worked with unlimited devotion for such a world
as this, and yet I doubt if he had ever had any realization of the
clearer, nobler life for man that his life of toil and the toil of
such lives as his, were making sure and certain in the days to come.
He lived by faith. He lived too much by faith. There was not enough
sunlight in his life. If I could have him here now--and that other
dear friend who grieved for him so bitterly; if I could have them
both here; if I could give up my place here to them so that they
could see, as I see, the real greatness of their lives reflected in
these great consequences of such lives as theirs--then, then I could
rejoice in Utopia indeed... But I feel now as if I had taken my old
friend's savings and was spending them on myself..."
"Well, suppose you have chances? If that makes your scheme the more
hopeful, it also makes it the more horrible. Here we are lifted up
out of the troubles of our time to a vision, to a reality of
civilization such as our own world can only hope to climb to in
scores of centuries! Here is a world at peace, splendid, happy, full
of wisdom and hope! If our puny strength and base cunning can
contrive it, we are to shatter it all! We are proposing to wreck a
world! I tell you it is not an adventure. It is a crime. It is an
abomination. I will have no part in it. I am against you in this
attempt."
"You cannot call me a conscientious objector to fighting, because I
do not object to fighting in a just cause. But this adventure of
yours is not a just cause... I implore you, Mr. Burleigh, you who are
not merely a politician, but a man of culture and a philosopher, to
reconsider what it is we are being urged towards--towards acts of
violence and mischief from which there will be no drawing back!"
author: Wells, H. G. (Herbert George), 1866-1946
(TXT) detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Men_Like_Gods
LOC: PZ3.W465 Men
(HTM) source: https://archive.org/details/mengods00hgw
tags: ebook,fiction,sci-fi
title: Men Like Gods
# Tags
(DIR) ebook
(DIR) fiction
(DIR) sci-fi