Philip K. Dick - How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later (Essay)
Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything.
We can’t talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and
unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful. A few years ago, no college
or university would ever have considered inviting one of us to speak. We
were mercifully confined to lurid pulp magazines, impressing no one. In
those days, friends would say me, "But are you writing anything serious?"
meaning "Are you writing anything other than science fiction?" We longed
to be accepted. We yearned to be noticed. Then, suddenly, the academic
world noticed us, we were invited to give speeches and appear on panels
— and immediately we made idiots of ourselves. The problem is simply this:
What does a science fiction writer know about? On what topic is he an authority?
Philip K. Dick - How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later (Essay)
