I just finished reading The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, and it just prompted a jarring realization. (If you haven’t read it and don’t want the ending spoiled, don’t click the hyperlink in the previous sentence. And don’t worry–I won’t give away any more than I have to in this post.)

If you’re not familiar with the book, I’ll give enough background for this post to make sense. An amateur inventor creates a time machine and takes a trip to the future. Humans have apparently evolved into small, frail, androgynous creatures (called the Eloi) who live a peaceful, leisurely existence. These creatures are childlike–they lack intelligence, curiosity, and creativity. The Time Traveller (he is never named) develops a theory as to why humans seem to have mentally devolved instead of advanced: