The Illusion of Depth

An oft-quoted insight (variously attributed to Frederik Pohl, Connie Willis, and half a dozen others) holds that the job of the inventor is to imagine the horseless carriage . The job of the futurist is to imagine the motorway . And the job of the writer is to imagine the traffic jam . In other words, the inventor designs the technology; the futurist imagines how that technology will be applied to improve our lives, and the writer thinks about how it will all go horribly wrong. Indeed, there is a rich tradition of speculative fiction that essentially looks at a current trend in society, and tries to imagine what everyday life might look like if that particular trend is allowed to continue unchecked. It is these stories that are often the most interesting to read (or watch) with the benefit of hindsight. Writers of this particular type of fiction are asking the grand question, " What will our lives be like if this particular trend carries on ?" Sitting here in late 2023 with o