Philip K Dick

Science fiction writers, I am sorry to say, really do not know anything.

We can’t talk about science, because our knowledge of it is limited and

unofficial, and usually our fiction is dreadful. A few years ago, no college

or university would ever have considered inviting one of us to speak.

We were mercifully confined to lurid pulp magazines, impressing no

one. In those days, friends would say me, “But are you writing

anything serious?” meaning “Are you writing anything other than

science fiction?” We longed to be accepted. We yearned to be noticed.

Then, suddenly, the academic world noticed us, we were invited to give

speeches and appear on panels — and immediately we made idiots of

ourselves.