Source: Cool Tools
As AI becomes increasingly embedded in everyday life, speculative fiction that grounds futuristic scenarios in technical plausibility serves a crucial cultural function—helping us imagine consequences before they arrive rather than after. This collection’s return to the “golden age” sensibility of rigorous hard sci-fi suggests a growing appetite for thoughtful, scenario-based thinking about AI, distinct from both techno-utopianism and reflexive catastrophizing. The fact that a trend intelligence publication is recommending literary fiction about AI futures signals that culture-makers and strategists are turning to imaginative works as planning tools, not mere entertainment.