I think the future stopped looking American when you think back to Blade Runner and Neuromancer, when it started to look more Japanese.

You have to have something worth saying and then the ability to say it- writing's a double skill, really.

I just think people overvalue argument because they like to hear themselves talk.

People were always sorry. Sorry they had done what they had done, sorry they were doing what they were doing, sorry they were going to do what they were going to do; but they still did whatever it is. The sorrow never stopped them; it just made them feel better. And so the sorrow never stopped.

Political correctness is what right-wing bigots call what everybody else calls being polite

My point has always been that, ever since the Industrial Revolution, science fiction has been the most important genre there is.

The truth is not always useful, not always good. It’s like putting your faith in water. Yes, we need the rain, but too much can sweep you away in a flood and drown you. Like all great natural, elemental forces, the truth needs to be channeled, managed, controlled and intelligently, morally allocated.