There were probably, what, 300 science-fiction members in the SFWA, of whom probably a hundred were active members in the sense that they were selling something every year, or every couple years.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
A large fraction of the most interesting scientists have read a lot of SF at one time or another, either early enough that it may have played a part in their becoming scientists or at some later date just because they liked the ideas.
You see, 30 years ago I didn't have near the audience I have now. My tapes on the cults have reached a circulation of 15 million. those are not my figures but the figures of the people who distribute them.
There are millions of sci-fi enthusiasts in the world, not just gamers.
With science fiction I think we are preparing ourselves for contact with them, whoever they may be.
Well, I grew up in the '80s, which was a really massive time for sci-fi.
I can't believe that I was one of those people who said 'I'm not really a sci-fi fan.'
A lot of the cosmologists and astrophysicists clearly had been reading science fiction.
The Fiction Writer's Co-op has 51 members, from celebrated NYT bestsellers to promising newcomers, and a waiting list.
I think it's too fast to say that all sci-fi ultimately winds up having some place in science. On the other hand, imaginative minds working outside of science as storytellers certainly have come upon ideas that, with the passing decades, have either materialized of come close to materializing.
I can list on one hand the famous science fiction writers I never met.