ABSTRACT
Those charged with tracing out a ‘map to the future’ confront an early branch point: either to select the well-travelled and alluring road to science fiction, in which magical pills stuffed with telomeres and stem cells make us immortal overnight, or to appeal instead to readers who, buoyed by curiosity and optimism but balanced by at least a remnant of critical sense, would prefer to follow pathways that connect the known to the plausible. This chapter will take the more pedestrian fork, wearing with a quiet pride a lapel pin proclaiming membership of the reality-based community (Warner et al, 2005).
