The Fuzzier Crystal Ball

In "The Fuzzier Crystal Ball," Dave Itzkoff uses the occasion of Sir Arthur C. Clarke's passing to ask, "in a world where technology evolves so rapidly that the present already feels like the future, will a modern-day author ever inherit Mr. Clarke’s aura of prescience?" He called me for the piece, and while my comments don't make the cut, I'm happy to have pointed him to two of the four authors whose comments he does incorporate. He talks to Charles Stross, Walter Jon Williams, Paolo Bacigalupi, and Ian McDonald. All have good things to say. I am particularly interested in Ian McDonald's remark that, "By concentrating only on what’s likely, it’s graying out that sense of wonder that scientists get from doing science."