Dr. Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, and H.G. Wells, author of The Time Machine, share a common scientific outlook on the world evidenced on their respective novels. Though living in different times and hence exposed to severely different zeitgeists, the way they perceive the world as scientists is intrinsically comparable on aspects such as how they can acknowledge their own errors, their fair skepticism and curiosity. These three aspects of their personality are clearly elucidated on their respective writings.

A defining characteristic of science, ergo of scientists themselves, is the ability to recognize a mistake. Science, as Dr. Tim Minchin puts it, “adjusts its beliefs based on what's observed, faith is the denial of observation so that belief can be preserved.” This is an argument Dr. Dawkins absolutely agree on. Dawkins, as an evolutionary biologist and researcher from Oxford University, does this for a living. Being able to recognize when something is wrong, and adjusting your hypothesis based on what’s being observed is the fundamental paradigm of science, and one that clearly shapes both authors. Though more evident on Dawkins’ case as he must do so on a daily basis for his research no doubt, this appears as well on Wells’ The Time Machine as well. The main character, the Time Traveler, after waking up in the future, asserts that his time machine has been destroyed. Wells then has the character go out looking for evidence (Dawkins would point out here, and agree, on how the author had the character actually do something and employ the scientific method instead of talking to a deity). As the main character finds evidence, namely tracks that indicate his machine has been taken away, he adjusts his theory and deduces the locals must have moved it in the direction of the tracks. The lack of magic throughout this process is where these authors would find common ground: al processes can be logically and methodically explained. Once again, as Dr. Minchin said, “Life is full of mystery, yeah, but there are answers out there, and they won't be found by people sitting around looking serious and saying isn't life mysterious?”

Another fundamental principle of scientists is a reasonable amount of skepticism. Scientists, by definition, cannot believe any assertion until sufficient evidence and analysis can be conducted and any reasonable doubt has been resolved. This is present in The Time Machine mainly through the Medical Man and the Psychologist. Both at the beginning and at the end, both characters prove to be as skeptical as you would expect from educated people in situations such as a person claiming time travel. These characters, at first, claim that the Time Machine could be a gimmick from the Time Traveler to fool them into thinking he actually time travelled. Later on, when he tells his full story, they require more than just a couple of strange plants and a story to believe him. The sine qua non condition for an extraordinary claim is that it requires extraordinary evidence. Wells, as a person with a scientific background, either consciously or unconsciously knows that a story and some flowers don’t fall into the category of extraordinary evidence. This kind extraordinary evidence is one that scientists, such as Dr. Dawkins, regularly attempt to ask religious groups to sustain their assertions. Ranging from claiming that the Earth is 5000 years old (instead of a couple billion years old), an inexperienced man being able to make a ship for more than 4 million animals and caring for them for more than a month with the help of his family, or the simple fact of there being a collective imaginary friend in the sky, The God Delusion isn’t satisfied with the circular reasoning of an extremely faulty anthology (the Bible) to account for all of this. Consequently, Dawkins introduces a 7 point scale on belief on his novel The God Delusion, the Spectrum of Theistic Probability.
Dawkins then continues to assert that on every theory or assertion we should all technically be a 6 at the most. To illustrate this, as he is talking specifically about God, he introduces Flying Teapot Argument. This argument states that there is a Teapot God orbiting Mars, but it is too small to be seen by telescopes from Earth or be found by astronauts. Ergo, as with unicorns, Thor, Yahweh, Allah or the catholic God, we cannot be 100% they are false, but we have to allow that probabilistical asymptote that it could be true. Science works upon the premise of falsifiable statements. This is why both deities, unicorns, teapots, and Wells’ time travel are not scientific premises. All assertions must be testable, by any individual, and more than once. When the Time Traveler claims to have travelled through time his assertion is only verifiable by him and cannot therefore be proven wrong. Dawkins claims the same goes for religion: when a man from the Middle East (or more recently Utah) claims to have an all-powerful magical friend, that is an unfalsifable statement, hence it shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Finally, both authors evidence an intrinsic propensity for curiosity. Curiosity is the property that drives scientific research and therefore innovation, hence it is a quality all scientists, like Dawkins, must have. Dr. Dawkins, as an evolutionary biologist researcher, has done extensive research on the evolution of cultures, not just organisms. As a pioneer on the field, he coined the term “meme”, which is now used by all biologists referring to a common aspect that is carried from a generation to the next that isn’t necessarily passed through the DNA entirely. Wells demonstrates this curiosity as well in how he ventures to guess how the future of the planet will be. This evidences his concern and interest in the future, yet he doesn’t do this prediction blindly: he does so in a scientific way. Wells takes the zeitgeist of his time and makes those patterns grow exponentially in his mind to elucidate what the future might hold. Ergo, he introduces a society that has lot many of the “memes” that were present during his time as they were in decay in that time as well (memes such as caring for one another, being different). He assumes the existing pattern will carry on and presents what that trend line leads to, eventually being a world without humanity. If we assume his postulate to be true, then his conclusion is reasonable enough, with the interesting part being that even when he’s guessing about a topic that makes him curious, he employs scientific methods.

Dr. Dawkins and Wells don’t only share a scientific background, more specifically they’re both biologists. Naturally, this bounds them to have similar views on life as they have studied life itself deeply through a common methodology. Recalling once again what Tim Minchin said on his occasional address at the University of Western Australia, “please don’t make the mistake of thinking the arts and sciences are at odds with one another. That is a recent, stupid, and damaging idea. You don’t have to be unscientific to make beautiful art, to write beautiful things.” Dawkins and Wells illustrate this idea thoroughly. In spite of being scientists, they both published best-selling literary books. The sciences and arts can and do intersect, and that leads to great works of both literature and art, as it is a piece of art that has meaning behind it. Wells’ The Time Machine is a great example of how “The arts and sciences need to work together to improve how knowledge is communicated. (Tim Minchin)”, as he is transmitting the patterns observed through a scientific perception, in a way that common people can understand and realize where they might be leading this world to.