A Stab at Defining Science Fiction

To me, science fiction is speculative, often with scientific or technological elements. Many of the realities presented in science fiction works are worlds that might be or could have been which differentiates science fiction from fantasy. The fantastic elements such as futuristic weapons or time machines are explained rationally through science and technology—concepts which are familiar to us and which we can observe, which makes science fiction seemingly more plausible than fantasy. For example, the Doctor’s TARDIS is ‘bigger on the inside’ not because of an undetectable extension charm as in Harry Potter, but due to Time Lord technology—the inside is, in fact, another dimension.

Within science fiction itself, there is much variability. Some science fiction works are commentaries on governments and societies: dystopias and utopias—for example, Orwell’s 1984, Huxley’s Brave New World, and Lowry’s The Giver. Others depict intelligent extraterrestrial life (or intelligent life on Earth—mice, who have actually been performing experiments on humans since the world was created—in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), space travel, galactic empires, and alternate universes. Within science fiction itself, there is much variability.

Although I don’t consider science fiction to be a direct subset of fantasy, they are closely related. Both genres share quite a few similar elements, the glorification of youth, quests to vanquish evil and discover strength within, and fantastic elements that require a suspension of disbelief. What differentiates the two, then, lies in the plausibility of the universes created. It’s more likely that time travel is possible, since we have been travelling forward in time since we were born, than say, that goblins or dwarves or elves exist.