The Purpose of Science Fiction
How it teaches governments—and citizens—how to understand the future of technology.
This article arises from Future Tense,a collaboration among Arizona State University, the New America Foundation, and Slate. A Future Tense conference on whether governments can keep pace with scientific advances will be held at Google D.C.'s headquarters on Feb. 3 and 4. (For more information and to sign up for the event, please visit the NAF Web site.)
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Robert J. Sawyerhas won the Hugo, Nebula, and Aurora Awards for best science fiction novel of the year. His latest novel isWWW:Watch, and his Web site is sfwriter.com.
Astronaut figurines and giant robot toy in a science fiction scene by Hemera Technologies/© Getty Images.