Science Fiction is rooted in material and historical actualities, which differentiates it from Fantasy or Myth. It looks at a world that we have defined as normal and reorders it. Many of the material players are present, satisfying the need to feel recognizable, but details have been altered pushing the narrative into a zone that is unfamiliar. As Suvin states, Science Fiction is broadly defined by “the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition”.

Science Fiction employs a form of synthetic thinking with the goal of illustrating a new reality. The abnormality of this new world is only comprehensible in its contrast to the readers empirical reality.  In this way, Science Fiction simultaneously relies on and challenges the existing social framework of society. Science Fiction is neither utopian nor dystopian but rather an alternate space that activates qualities from both worlds, as a heuristic method to condition the reader to consider and accept new modes of thought.

Science Fiction is one way in which we grapple with the perceived distinction between Art and Science, and ultimately understand that they are inevitably intertwined. In terms of scientific advancements, Feyeraband laid the groundwork for an anarchist approach, ‘the only principle that does not inhibit progress is anything goes.” In his scientific philosophy, the multitude and diversity of theories- no matter how ridiculous- leads to better and more scientific discoveries. Science Fiction are those theories- well researched, constrained by history, aesthetically represented, and consumed by many.

Science Fiction is a critical theory, a ‘soft’ science, a strategy, a technology, a method, a mirror, an art, a release.