Why Scientists (and everyone else) should Read Science Fiction

I found this post via http://sciencefictionbiology.blogspot.com/ by molecular biologist Hannah Waters. I thought it was a really interesting read.
Why Scientists should read Science Fiction

What I loved most was the quote by David Brin which sums up perfectly why I love Science Fiction and think everyone who thinks it lacks intellectual thinking is an idiot!

Science fiction is badly named — it should have been called speculative history… Whether you are in a parallel reality or exploring the future, it is all about the implications of change on human lives. The fundamental premise of sci-fi is not spaceships and lasers — it’s that children can learn from the mistakes of their parents.

Studying communications at University illustrated to me just how much change effects society. How we communicate, how we shop, how we eat, how we drink, how we listen to music, how we travel, how we live: everything is changed by new inventions and discoveries.
I read a great example of this concept this morning! Reading Zero History by William Gibson this morning on my commute, Hollis (an ex rock star character) grabs a coffee in Paris and speculates how the coffee houses have changed to the Starbucks mentality of ‘coffee walking’. Everyone has a cardboard cup and consumes their coffee on the run. Starbucks has never been as successful in Europe because it conflicts with the European culture of coffee as a relaxed social event:

“One either sat to do it, in cafes or restaurants, or stood, at bars or on railway platforms, and drank from sturdy vessels, china or glass, themselves made in France.”

But sure enough the globalization of frenzied caffeine runs is getting hold of the world!

The point of Science Fiction is to explore just how much these changes affect us. Whether its advances in technology, globalization, medical breakthroughs, environmental changes or even experimental marketing. Speculative history draws from our past, our failures and achievements and debates whether we will react similarly to different changes in the future. Science Fiction can act as the devil’s advocate and prompt us to think implications. How should we handle change? How should we prepare for the future?
This is obviously extremely relevant for scientists. Their progress is reaching the cusp of fantasy; genetic cloning and artificial organs. They are ethically responsible to consider all the implications of their creations and make sure we don’t wake up one day living in a world where extra limps and good health are commodities!
That being said, it was incredibly refreshing to read how Hannah uses sci-fi literature to ignite her excitement about Science again. I can’t imagine being a scientist but I can understand how sitting for days in a lab can make you forget the big picture.

Everyone is already contributing to change in the 21st Century whether it’s developing new medicine, tweeting, blogging or reading an ebook.
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