Science fiction as a vital bridge between technoscience and culture, an early warning system, a method for imagining differently. In the new millennium, science fiction has moved from the margins to the mainstream.

At the same time, it has undergone massive transformations. No longer can it be derided as indigestible technobabble or escapist trash or a white man's playground-not that it ever really was. Sf is rich and diverse, serious, and fun.

A vital bridge between technoscience and culture, it is an early warning system, a method for imagining differently, and a way of experiencing our increasingly science-fictional world. It is the vernacular of the 21st century.