] Dystopian visions of the future explore the power of
] virtual communities.
]
] Most cultures preserve their traditions and transmit
] values by telling stories about their past. Americans
] used to do the same, back when the Western was perhaps
] our most popular genre. Yet, somewhere around the
] mid-twentieth century, we began to examine our most
] cherished values and deepest questions through exploring
] the future.
]
] Science fiction is a genre about discontinuities rather
] than continuities, change rather than tradition, and
] about open questions rather than tried-and-true wisdom.
] It could only emerge at the moment when cycles of
] cultural and technological change could be viewed within
] a single lifetime. Today, the rate of change has
] accelerated to the point where we only need to go "twenty
] minutes from now" to envision radical cultural shifts
] and extraordinary technological advances.

MIT Technology Review - Science Fiction and Smart Mobs