Now, being a science fiction writer, when I see a natural principle, I wonder if it could fail.

One of the nice things about science fiction is that it lets us carry out thought experiments.

Science fiction writers put characters into a world with arbitrary rules and work out what happens.

A little-known truth: Every aspect of the world is fundamentally unpredictable. Computer scientists have long since proved this.

When I see an old movie, like from the ’40s or ’50s or ’60s, the people look so calm. They don’t have smartphones, they’re not looking at computer screens, they’re taking their time. They’ll sit in a chair and just stare off into space. I think some day we’ll find our way back to that garden of Eden.

Some ideas you have to chew on, then roll them around a lot, play with them before you can turn them into funky science fiction.

If we suppose that many natural phenomena are in effect computations, the study of computer science can tell us about the kinds of natural phenomena that can occur.