The pioneering science-fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, also wrote insightful non-fiction essays about science over the course of his lengthy career. A number of these short reflective pieces have been collected into an anthology, The Roving Mind. In one essay Asimov discusses the role of speculation in scientific inquiry and the responsibility of the non-specialist to recognize and distinguish between profitable scientific speculation and misleading pseudoscience. Read the short essay and use it as a springboard for discussion.
- Isaac Asimov, “Speculation”
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Discussion Questions:
- What advice does Asimov give for testing the potential value of scientific speculation?
- How does he define pseudoscience?
- Why, according to Asimov, is science fiction not pseudoscience?
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