What Does Science Fiction Have in Common With Philosophy?

As I've aged, and hopefully matured, I've become more interested in philosophy. Its amazing how much philosophy there is in a good science fiction story. However it shouldn't have been such a surprise to me as it was, considering both science fiction and philosophy deal with questions like how one can know anything at all, and how a person ought to live.

A good science fiction writer will deal with the latter question especially in light of how new ideas and technologies create change, how this change will affect us and where it may take us in the future. Both make you think about the human condition and the consequences of these ideas.

Philosophy helps us see that ideas have consequences and, as Ray Bradbury puts it, science fiction is the most important literature in the history of the world because it is the history of ideas. They seem to be two sides of the same coin.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

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