‘SF is no longer about the future as such, because “we have no future” that we can do thought experiments about, only futures, which bleed all over the page, soaking the present. (Cognitive estrangement is us.) In 2003, SF stories can no longer fruitfully be defined as texts which extrapolate particular outcomes from particular “nows”; such stories that are published as SF are, in fact, nostalgia blankets: Instant Collectibles. In 2003, on the other hand, any story about the case of the world, any story the world can be seen through, is in fact SF. (Mundane novels, which are set in the world like fish in an aquarium, cannot grasp the tank, cannot see the case for the trees.) But it is not just a question of point of view. In a world whose appearance—whose case—can be altered at the touch of a mouse, words become Word. In 2003, we shape reality by saying it. Like terrorists, we world-build by changing the case.’

— John Clute, SciFi.com