| In a letter to Anne McCaffrey I said: "I am a 47 year old
professional independent American inventor, and
one of the leaders of a three year old movement
in America of inventors who have banded together
to protect and nurture inventors from those
corporations who prey on them. The movement
has near thirty Nobel laureates, about fifteen
National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees, many
other people of stature, and thousands of
aspiring inventors."
"A big reason that
I invent is science fiction (S-F), which I
discovered when I was in seventh grade. It
taught me how to look at problems from different
perspectives."
Mrs. McCaffrey
responded with:
"By golly, you're
one of the quiet ones that s-f has influenced and
I'm damned glad to hear from you. John W
Campbell, fabulous editor of ANALOG Magazine,
would have loved to know that s-f had that sort
of effect on some young readers. He was certain
it would."
This exchange made me
realize that S-F readers and writers needed to
hear that S-F has such an impact. I
discovered science fiction in seventh
grade. I became a avid reader of science
fiction (and science fact with Analog being my
favorite S-F magazine), which played a
significant roll in the formation of my world
view and ethical standards. S-F
helped create the mind set that makes me a
prolific inventor across multiple disciplines. I
firmly believe that science fiction is a great
educational tool that allows concepts to be
taught in a setting where the readers or
contemporary prejudices are not immediately
triggered, allowing them to learn to look at
problems from different perspectives. The
thought process which S-F can invoke is similar
in many respects to the way a good inventor looks
at problems, and produces solutions for those
problems.
Ronald J. Riley
Published In Analog
Brass Tacks July/August 1998
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