A Note to Readers; Acknowledgments; Contents; 1: Introduction: Science and the Rise of Science Fiction; Change and the Future; Science Fiction and the Wellsian Imagination; What Is This Thing Called Science Fiction?; Science Fiction Meets the Moral Imagination; A Roadmap; Concluding Remarks; References; 2: Science Fiction: A Short History of a Literary Genre; Emergence; The Rise of Genre Science Fiction; Isaac Asimov: Science Fiction as Problem Solving; After the Golden Age; Cyberpunk and Beyond; Science Fiction in Other Media; Concluding Remarks; References

3: Morality, Science Fiction, and Enabling FormPhilosophy and Philosophical Questions; A Very Brief Introduction to Moral Philosophy; Theories of Ethics: Deontology, Consequentialism, Virtue Ethics; Science Fiction as Enabling Form; Science Fiction and Moral Philosophy: Ideas and Examples; Human Nature in Lord of the Flies and Tunnel in the Sky; James Blish: A Case of Conscience; Mary Doria Russell and the Ways of God; The Cultureś Conundrum; Concluding Remarks; References; 4: Future and Alien Moralities; Engaging with Ethical Theories; Whoś Afraid of the Brave New World?

The Ethic of DestinyWar and Warś Alarms; The Exotic and the Erotic; Science Fictionś Critique of Gender Roles; Delanyś Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand: Science Fiction as Subversion; Concluding Remarks; References; 5: Technophiles, Technophobes, and Renegades; Technology and the Uses of Power; Science Fictionś History with Technoscience; Science Fiction Meets Bioscience; Frankensteins, Promethean Figures, and Galilean Scientists; Gregory Benford: Nigel Walmsley and Other Renegades; Cixin Liu: Renegades with Responsibilities; Concluding Remarks; References

6: Aliens, Robots, Mutants, and OthersScience Fictionś Intelligent Others; The Aliens Are Everywhere!; Aliens and Social Comment; The Anxiety of Interference; Robots and Others, and the Frankensteinian Tradition; Beyond the Frankenstein Complex; Mutated Life and Homo Superior; Watch for the Mutants; Concluding Remarks; References; 7: Going Inward: Science Fiction and Human Enhancement; Change and the Human Future; Rejecting the Superhuman; Human Destiny and the Future of Mind; Imagining Immortality; Reshaping the Human; Concluding Remarks; References

8: Conclusion: Great Power and Great ResponsibilityBroad New Canvas; The Sense of Wonder and Its Debasement; The Trouble with Terrans (and Terraforming); Science Fictional Societies; Concluding Remarks; References; Chronological List of Works Discussed; Index