I take no pleasure in the fact that the scientific predictions I've relayed to popular audiences turn out to be true.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I am frequently astonished that it so often results in correct predictions of experimental results.
I think science fiction is very bad at prediction.
If the facts are contrary to any predictions, then the hypothesis is wrong no matter how appealing.
Predicting has a spotty record in science fiction. I've had some failures. On the other hand, I also predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of fundamentalist Islam... and I'm not happy to be right in all of those cases.
People think that if you are a scientist you have to give up that joy of discovery, that passion, that sense of the great romance of life. I say that's completely opposite of the truth.
We have this very clean picture of science, you know, these well-established rules with which we make predictions. But when you're really doing science, when you're doing research, you're at the edge of what we know.
For me it's been very exciting to contribute to the public's understanding of how rich and wondrous science is.
I believe scientists have a duty to share the excitement and pleasure of their work with the general public, and I enjoy the challenge of presenting difficult ideas in an understandable way.
I don't think of myself predicting things. I'm expressing possibilities. Things that could happen. To a large extent it's a question of how badly people want them to.
I've ceased making predictions on things because we'll see how they turn out.