The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-01-26
FUTURE NEED NOT BIZ HIDDEN,
LECTURE BY H.. @. WELLS AROUSES
GREAT INTEREST.
throw s~earchrsht Of Inference Forward
Not backward. and World Changes.
Except for the Affairs OF Man. May
Re Knovn-Great Changes Near.

ENCtDI IOT htt ~ '" 1851 w.
BE Known-Great Changes Near.
Special Gable Despatch 20 The SUN.
LONDON, Jan. 25.-Mr. ii. q. Wells, the
scientist and novelist, who out-Darwins
his master. Darwin, and dsres to direct a
confident gaze upon a future still ICONS
distant, delivered a lecture at the Royal
I~nstitut ion last night on Discovery OF the
Future This did not mean an aerial
flight or any single development OF science.
hut discovery Of the future as a whole.
Along certain lines with certain, limita-
lions. he argued. a working knowledge OF
the things OF the future was practicable
and possible. As during the past century
the amazing searchlight OF inference had
toen nassed into the remoter past. so by
cooking for operating causes instead OF
tor fossils the searchlight Of inference
MIGHT be thrown into the future The
nan ~ science would believe at last that
events in A. d. 1000 were as fixed, settled
and unchangeable as those of A. ID. 1900,
With the exception Of the affairs Of man
and his children. II is as simple and sure
TO work out the changing orbit Of the earth
In future until the tidal drag hauls n un-
changing face at last toward the sun, as 1t
is 10 work back to its blazing. molten past.
Il might be argued that man, individ-
.ually and collectively. was an incalculable
factor, a new element opposing the nature
Of the inquiry and stamping II os vain and
homeless, but MIR. Wells seemed to favor
the idea that man, though complcating,
did not alter the essential nature Of In
duction. He did not believe in the i'm
portance OF the leading man. and he con-
fessed to a belief that II by some Juggling
with space and time Cesar, Napoleon,
William the Conqueror and other great
Municipalities had been changed at birth
II would not have produced any serious
dislocation of the course of destiny. Great
men were no more than images and SYM
bols and instruments taken at h~aphazard
by the incessant, consistent forces behind
them. They were the pen nibs which
fate used in her writing, and h more one
was inclined 10 trust these forces behind
individuals the more one could believe In
the possibility Of a reasoned inductive
view Of the future that would serve us In
politics, morals, social contrivances and in
a thousand ways. A deliberate direction
of historical, economic and social study
toward the future and a deliberate and
courageous reference TO the future In moral
and religious discussion would be enor-
mously stimulating and profitable TO the
intellf otual life.
That man Is not ana Is a great and dis
iurbing fact In scientific discovery in the
future and the question. What Is to come
after mani Is the most persistent thy fas-
cinating. insoluble question In the world.
But for the near future some few general
statements have gr wi more certain.
I've years ago II was an irresponsible sug-
~gestion, but now II was n commonplace
Of Cabinet Ministers, that our dense popu-
lstions were in the opening phase OF a
process OF differentiation.
Secondly. II was inevitable that the mass
Of the white population Of the world would
be forced in some way up the scale Of
efficiency within two or three decades.
Thirdly, reasons had been collected showing
that In the comparative near future hui
mlnity would be definitely and consciously
organizing itself into a great world state
and purge itself Of much that II mean and
D'stiAl md dreary In this world.
The lecturer asked. Why should things
cease at man' Nc creatures lived under
changing conditions without undergoing
changes. Human society. he said. was
never static and would presently cease
IN it's attempt 20 be static. Mr.. Wells de-
clared:
W are az the beginning OF the greatest
change that humanity has ever under
gone. There will he no shock as there is
no shock at a cloudy daybreak. We are
Of twilight. but out Of our minds
aud the lineage Of our minds will spring
minds hat will reach forward fearlessly
4 day will oome-one day in the unending
succession Of ~days-when the beings now
iatsnt 10 our thoughts, hidden ia our loins.
shall stan on this earth as one stan on
= footstool. and they shall laugh ana reach
out thsir hands among the stars
In tie crowded assembly Ia. listened
II terested and enthusiasts were DR. Dewar.
MR. William Crooks, Prof Armstrong.
lord ftAylsigh and Sir Frederick Bran
well The lecture has already aroused
. ldospread interest and viii probably he
much discussed