About This Book
Like the scientific method, science fiction provides an approach to understanding the universe we live in. It provides the tools, tropes, and cognitive framework within which we can explore ideas and safely run thought-experiments where we cannot or ought not in real-world experiments. By dramatizing such scenarios, populating them with believable characters, and providing the background necessary for the audience to willingly suspend disbelief, SF brings ideas to life. In Episode 5 of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Neil deGrasse Tyson said, "Science needs the light of free expression to flourish. It depends on the fearless questioning of authority, and the open exchange of ideas... The nature of scientific genius is to question what the rest of us take for granted, then do the experiment." Replace "science" or "scientific" with "science fiction" in these statements, and you concisely define what SF does - and the value of its study becomes apparent. Science fiction is a community of thinkers and creatives. It is a collaborative effort by people from creative fields; as well as experts in technical, scientific, and humanities fields; professionals in publishing and multimedia forms; plus scholars, critics, and fans - all coming together to better understand and share our individual visions of what it means to be human impacted by ever-accelerating change. At its noblest, SF actively welcomes people from all backgrounds regardless of age, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, nationality, race, religion, sexual orientation, and marital, parental, and veteran status, encouraging its members to feel welcome, free, and safe to express themselves in the truest ways possible in our exploration of the human condition encountering change.
