There are many different ways to speculate on both the current and future human condition, I don’t think we really need to gatekeep. I found it a shame when Str

There are many different ways to speculate on both the current and future human condition, I don’t think we really need to gatekeep. I found it a shame when Stross abandoned his eschaton books for some minor self-perceived glitch in their internal logic that could have been handwaved away, but by and large I haven’t felt his work has taught me much about humans, however much sweat he puts into the techie bits. Most of it is downright silly (or more charitably playful), and deliberately so. I find it interesting that Margaret Atwood’s careful branding of herself as not a science fiction author is predicated on the same argument, that she lacks the techie doodads that are the supposed hallmark of the genre. But I have always felt that was a completely self serving, not to mention ahistorical, distinction. Each to their own, obviously. As long as you’re reading you’re winning.