Real-Life Science-Fictional Experiences

[Travis B.]

As I mentioned before here, the future happened, but not the future some planned for. While we have sent space probes to other parts of the solar system, the furthest we humans have gotten is a few short stops on the moon and, on a longer-term basis, a few small space stations in LEO. Yet at the same time we today, as others here have related, are essentially living in the world that cyberpunk predicted, for worse or for better.

[xxx]

SF is an augmented parody of its author's world,
intended as a warning, and in so doing, it forces the issue...

What strikes me as science-fictionesque in our world
is its caricatured character,
sometimes so big that I pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming...

but the warning comes too late, it's already happened...

[Raphael]

SF is an augmented parody of its author's world,
intended as a warning,

It can be that, but that's not always the case. Sometimes, writers write to express their wishes, too, or simply try to come up with interesting stories. And I think some of the lesser-known SF works went to some length to create worls very different from the writers' own.