Eloi

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For information on Saint Eloi, the Christian apostle to Flanders, see Saint Eligius.

Contents 1 In H. G. Wells's The Time Machine 2 In Dan Simmons' Ilium 3 Later use as a metaphor 4 Later use of the name

[edit] In H. G. Wells's The Time Machine

The Eloi are one of the two post-human races in H. G. Wells' 1895 novel The Time Machine. In the year AD 802,701, humanity has evolved into two separate species: the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are the spoiled, attractive upper class, living in luxury on the surface of the earth while the Morlocks live underground, tending machinery and providing food, clothing and infrastructure for the Eloi. Each class evolved and degenerated from different social classes as humans, a theme that reflects upon Wells' sociopolitical opinions.

The name 'Eloi' may be derived from the ancient Greek word 'Eleutheroi', which referred to free men, or men of leisure. However, the word 'Eloi' by itself is more famous for being the Aramaic for "my God", found in Mark 15:34.

The main difference from their earlier ruler-worker state is that while the Morlocks continue to support the world's infrastructure and serve the Eloi, the Eloi have undergone significant physical and mental deterioration. Having solved all problems which required strength, intelligence or virtue, they have slowly become dissolute, frail idiots. While one initially has the impression that the Eloi live a life of play and toil less abundance, it is revealed that the Morlocks are tending to the Eloi's needs for the same reason a farmer tends to cattle - because the Eloi compose most (if not all) of the Morlock diet and the Eloi are no longer capable of acting in any other role.

[edit] In Dan Simmons' Ilium

Eloi is a nick-name or slang word for lazy descendents of the human race after the post-humans have left Earth. Considered un-educated, lazy, and totally un-cultured, Dan uses the similarity of H. G. Well's book to the future of the human race in the classic retelling of Gods, humans and scientific endeavors gone wrong.

Old-style humans vs post-humans rule with Eloi being the specimens kept in 'zoos' on restricted areas on Earth. The Eloi are technical adept but don't understand the technology, and indeed regress in their development, un-learning millenniums of culture, thought and reason for the pleasures of being, no more or no less.

[edit] Later use as a metaphor

In Neal Stephenson's essay on modern culture with respect to the development of Computer Operating Systems, "In the Beginning was the Command Line", he demonstrates similarities between the future in The Time Machine and contemporary American culture. He claims that most Americans have been exposed to a "corporate monoculture" which renders them "unwilling to make judgments and incapable of taking stands." Those who are willing to remain outside of this "culture" are capable of obtaining powerful tools to deal with the world, and it is they, rather than the neutered Eloi, that run things. The assumption seems to be that the Eloi will manage to fill their heads with garbage one way or the other, so our culture exists to ensure that it is harmless garbage rather than the dangerous types that lead to disruptions, violence, wars and inquisitions.

To quote Stephenson directly:

"But in our world it's the other way round. The Morlocks are in the minority, and they are running the show, because they understand how everything works. The much more numerous Eloi learn everything they know from being steeped from birth in electronic media directed and controlled by book-reading Morlocks. So many ignorant people could be dangerous if they got pointed in the wrong direction, and so we've evolved a popular culture that is (a) almost unbelievably infectious and (b) neuters every person who gets infected by it, by rendering them unwilling to make judgments and incapable of taking stands."

[edit] Later use of the name

• The classic hard rock band Eloi Salad, based out of Rockford IL, stumps their audience on the name's roots.
• The progressive rock band Eloy are named after the race.
• The Elokoi of Brian Caswell's novel Deucalion are presumably inspired by the Eloi, but ones without the dark side of the Morlocks.
• The book Air by Geoff Ryman contains a fictional ethnic minority called the Eloi, whose struggle for autonomy is squelched by a repressive government.
• Employment Security Specialists who work on the second floor at the Gambell Job Center are commonly referred to as Eloi when compared to the Morlock ESS staff on the first floor.