News from Nowhere

I think your definition of science fiction is too narrow, in that it does not necessarily ask me to set aside my disbelief. Given that scientific knowledge is always growing, there are always going to be writers who write speculative fiction that postulate new discoveries that are consistent with the laws of nature as we know them. Think of all the stories written about space travel before the Sputnik was launched (48 years ago -- gulp). Somebody must right now be writing about the implications of global warming: if only their story required me to suspend my disbelief how much happier I'd be. In Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut postulates the existence of ice-nine, a form of water that freezes at normal temperatures. It's not been discovered yet, but since he wrote that the Buckminsterfullerene, C₆₀ molecule of carbon has been discovered.

For some reason the words of Tom Lehrer come to mind:

These are the only ones of which the news has come to Ha'vard,
And there may be many others, but they haven't been discavard.