A diet of science fiction

I grew up on a diet of science fiction.

That may sound unhealthy to you. Of all the essential genre groups I have focused on only one, to the exclusion of others. Perhaps it has resulted in a distortion of my world view. I don't have the perspective to say. What I can say is that I still think that science fiction, of all the genres that fit under the trendy new label speculative fiction, is something incredibly important for human society. It is an artistic embodiment of what are perhaps the most defining aspects of humans and the ecological niche they occupy: tool use, invention and the modification of the world to suit us.

Science fiction embodies our capacity to understand the world, and invent new things to change our relationship with the world. No other form of fiction engages so deeply with this aspect of humanity. This aspect of humanity defines the way we live and die, it both creates and solves the majority of the problems we face. For this reason I am proud to say I live on a diet of science fiction.