Substantive on "The War of the Worlds"

Although to some The War of the Worlds brings with it the image of a campy alien invasion or B rated horror, Wells’ novel is deserving of the title of classic and is flooded with sociopolitical commentary. For one, the novel reflects Darwinian ideas that were controversial during the era the novel was written. This is seen when both the red weed and the Martians succumb to Earth’s microscopic organisms, as well as when the red weed smothers and overtakes much of the plant life it encounters as it has no natural competitors. Wells’ most poignant praise of Darwinism is when he states that humanity had earned its’ command over earth with the billions of lives lost to diseases and sicknesses. He also suggests that the Martians have existed longer than humans and therefore have more evolved intellects. In this way Wells is using science fiction to mask his support for Darwinism, which at the time was anathema to Victorian society and Christianity. Besides this, Wells uses his novel to reflect growing concerns of war in Europe by using the Martian invasion as an allegory for an invasion by another European foe. Perhaps the coldness and inhumanity of the Martians makes The War of the Worlds a piece of propaganda in a sense.
The way the narrator describes the “vastness” and “coolness” of the Martian intellect in The War of the Worlds leads to the question of what future mentalities will be characterized by. Will future thought processes entail a Vulcan like stoicism and be characterized by cold rationality, or are empathy and caring necessary for a civilization to advance? On the other hand, could an ideal mentality be prescribed to another species? Could certain concepts even be understood between different species? For example, would a welfare state work for the Martians that must feed off other creatures and reproduce like plants? Would the idea of “right to life” be an alien concept to certain extraterrestrials? Such conundrums led to the question of what interspecies diplomacy will entail and whether or not a failure to communicate will lead to future wars between worlds.