From Pixels to Plastic
Without it, you’ve just got rational iterations of consequences. And that’s the ‘science’ bit of the science fiction. It’s like a scientific experiment, with the book, words and narrative as the experimental apparatus. The author is observing as much as the reader.
It’s a pleasure to read or observe, sure, but most of science is like that. Apart from the very rare experiments where you discover something, mostly you’re just going through the motions, turning the handle and checking that, yes, physics still works and, yes, the laws of nature haven’t changed today.
It’s fan fic.