The future depicted in a good SF story ought to be in fact possible, or at least plausible. That means that the writer should be able to convince the reader (and himself) that the wonders he is describing really can come true... and that gets tricky when you take a good, hard look at the world around you.

That's what life is, just one learning experience after another, and when you're through with all the learning experiences you graduate and what you get for a diploma is, you die.

My first thought was always a cigarette. It still is, but I haven't cheated.

It's clear that science and science fiction have overlapping populations.

For someone to be taken seriously it was valuable to have the appearance of someone who deserved to be taken seriously.

You can't really predict the future. All you can do is invent it.

People as me how I do research for my science fiction. The answer is, I never do any research.