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by nephihaha
190 days ago
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In the broadest sense, yes, but not necessarily claiming scientific methods to make those projections. We can often guess from current trends. Some science fiction isn't aiming to be predictive, but more in the direction of escapism or what if? You are right about politics and science. One uses the other. Politicians tend to use emotional rather than logical arguments to persuade people. |
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If Asimov wanted to give a good impression about exact predictive science, he made some terrible mistakes:
- In his story, Hari Seldom predictions failed a lot. They had to be amended, fixed and tweaked several times by other characters.
- The predictions sound powerful, but also implied an unavoidable series of crisis. Not the best story to push your propaganda.
- The Mule is overall more powerful than Seldom, and actually achieves a stabilization of Empire's ruins. Not what you write if you want to make sure your idea is the only path forward.
These make me believe he was more interested in portraying those ideas with healthy doses of skepticism, not pushing them willy-nilly.