> I think he took things happening in small scale and used them as filler/detail to a story he wanted to tell in large scale. I think this must be a common thi

> I think he took things happening in small scale and used them as filler/detail to a story he wanted to tell in large scale. I think this must be a common thing that good scifi authors do. I saw a talk by William Gibson many years ago where he mentioned something very similar, he called it "part of his science fiction toolkit".