--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A good science fiction story should be…" description: "\"A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam.\" — Frederik Pohl" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/frederik-pohl-12573_able_a-good-science-fiction-story-should-be-a_1877843.jpg" --- # A good science fiction story should be able to predict not… ![“A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam.” quote by Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/frederik-pohl-12573_able_a-good-science-fiction-story-should-be-a_1877843.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/frederik-pohl-12573_able_a-good-science-fiction-story-should-be-a_1877843.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/frederik-pohl-12573_able_a-good-science-fiction-story-should-be-a_1877843.jpg) > “A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam.” [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Science fiction should anticipate societal conditions, not just technology. **In simple terms:** Predict social patterns, not gadgets. Key Takeaway Focus stories on human systems. Themes future society technology prediction Mood thoughtful analytical Type speculative predictive When to use this quote - urban planning - policy making - media analysis Key Concepts sociology systems thinking speculative fiction Questions to Reflect On - How can writers balance tech and social foresight? - What current issues could become future norms? A Different Perspective May overlook unpredictable human behavior. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Able](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able/) [Automobile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/automobile/) [Automobile Traffic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/automobile-traffic-1553661/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Fiction Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-story-1109691/) [Good science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-science/) [Jam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jam/) [Predict Automobile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/predict-automobile-2633778/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Science fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science-fiction/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Traffic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/traffic/) [Traffic jam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/traffic-jam/) ## Related quotes > [It's important to see things in perspective. Automobile traffic is responsible for only 12 percent of total CO2 emissions. One should be able to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-winterkorn/it-s-important-to-see-things-in-perspective-automobile-traffic-is/) [Martin Winterkorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-winterkorn/) > [A good scenario doesn't make a good science fiction story - but it's a setting within which a good science fiction story might be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamais-cascio/a-good-scenario-doesn-t-make-a-good-science-fiction-story-but-it-s-a/) [Jamais Cascio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamais-cascio/) > [“Even heavy automobile traffic out of New York City on a summer weekend minutely unbalances the earth as it rotates.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-allman-siple/even-heavy-automobile-traffic-out-of-new-york-city-on-a-summer/) [Paul Allman Siple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-allman-siple/) > [A traffic jam is a collision between free enterprise and socialism. Free enterprise produces automobiles faster than socialism can build roads and road capacity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-joseph-galambos/a-traffic-jam-is-a-collision-between-free-enterprise-and-socialism/) [Andrew Joseph Galambos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-joseph-galambos/) > [When I read any book, if it's really good I get lost in the writing whether it's fiction or non-fiction. I'm in the story…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-feuerzeig/when-i-read-any-book-if-it-s-really-good-i-get-lost-in-the-writing/) [Jeff Feuerzeig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-feuerzeig/) > [“We are now in a position to determine just what sort of science fiction story this really is.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-sturgeon/we-are-now-in-a-position-to-determine-just-what-sort-of-science/) [Theodore Sturgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-sturgeon/) > [“For my purpose, the non-fiction form of abstract knowledge doesn’t interest me; the final, applied form of fiction, of story, does.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/for-my-purpose-the-non-fiction-form-of-abstract-knowledge-doesn-t/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [I cannot manage fiction with the story line and the schedules. Even if I am short of EMIs, I will not do fiction on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunil-grover/i-cannot-manage-fiction-with-the-story-line-and-the-schedules-even-if/) [Sunil Grover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunil-grover/) > [“Science fiction is the arena of the not-yet, and every science fiction story has this element of not-yet-ness — usually a bit of technology…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/welch-everman/science-fiction-is-the-arena-of-the-not-yet-and-every-science-fiction/) [Welch Everman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/welch-everman/) > [A good science fiction story is a story with a human problem, and a human solution, which would not have happened at all without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-sturgeon/a-good-science-fiction-story-is-a-story-with-a-human-problem-and-a/) [Theodore Sturgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-sturgeon/) > [Wouldn't it be kinder to say that a lie is a short work of fiction? 'A story' as my daughter says?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-mccloy/wouldn-t-it-be-kinder-to-say-that-a-lie-is-a-short-work-of-fiction-a/) [Helen McCloy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-mccloy/) > [“There is a moment, in all my studying of movies and scripts, that I’d realized something elemental about human beings and why I’d been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-j-roberts/there-is-a-moment-in-all-my-studying-of-movies-and-scripts-that-i-d/) [C.J. Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-j-roberts/) > [A science fiction story is just an attempt to solve a problem that exists in the world, sometimes a moral problem, sometimes a physical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/a-science-fiction-story-is-just-an-attempt-to-solve-a-problem-that/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [There's nothing I love more than a great truth-is-stranger-than-fiction story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-feuerzeig/there-s-nothing-i-love-more-than-a-great-truth-is-stranger-than/) [Jeff Feuerzeig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-feuerzeig/) > [It does sound like a science fiction story and I may sound like one of these guys who walks up and down with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lembit-pik/it-does-sound-like-a-science-fiction-story-and-i-may-sound-like-one/) [Lembit Opik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lembit-pik/) ## More by Frederik Pohl > [“There are people who never pass a certain point in their emotional development. They cannot live a normal free-and-easy, give-and-take life with a sexual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/there-are-people-who-never-pass-a-certain-point-in-their-emotional/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [“Only you have to keep practicing and remembering.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/only-you-have-to-keep-practicing-and-remembering/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [“Anyway, that's what life is, just one learning experience after another, and when you're through with all the learning experiences you graduate and what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/anyway-that-s-what-life-is-just-one-learning-experience-after-another/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [A lot of the cosmologists and astrophysicists clearly had been reading science fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/a-lot-of-the-cosmologists-and-astrophysicists-clearly-had-been/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [Advertising reaches out to touch the fantasy part of people's lives. 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If a picture on the wall can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/if-a-picture-on-the-wall-can-remember-you-remember-that-this-is-not/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [It's clear that science and science fiction have overlapping populations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/it-s-clear-that-science-and-science-fiction-have-overlapping/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [“Wealth ... or death. Those were the choices Gateway offered. Humans had discovered this artificial spaceport, full of working interstellar ships left behind by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/wealth-or-death-those-were-the-choices-gateway-offered-humans-had/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [When I sit down to the feast of life ... I'm so busy planning on how to pick up the check, and wondering what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/when-i-sit-down-to-the-feast-of-life-i-m-so-busy-planning-on-how-to/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [For someone to be taken seriously it was valuable to have the appearance of someone who deserved to be taken seriously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/for-someone-to-be-taken-seriously-it-was-valuable-to-have-the/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [“You asked me, 'Do you call this living?" And I answer: Yes, it is exactly what I call living. And in my best hypothetical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/you-asked-me-do-you-call-this-living-and-i-answer-yes-it-is-exactly/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [The science fiction method is dissection and reconstruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/the-science-fiction-method-is-dissection-and-reconstruction/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [On this day I want to tell you about, which will be about a thousand years from now, there were a boy, a girl…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/on-this-day-i-want-to-tell-you-about-which-will-be-about-a-thousand/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) > [“There are times when I sit at the center of the world, and when I know that I can reach out to any of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederik-pohl/there-are-times-when-i-sit-at-the-center-of-the-world-and-when-i-know/) [Frederik Pohl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) [Explore all 51 Frederik Pohl quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederik-pohl/) ## More Able quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. 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I'm still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-think-i-ve-had-the-longest-career-of-strength-focus-and-still-being/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) > [I have that need in me, I want everyone to love me, but I'm embarrassed by that need, so I wanted to cover it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/i-have-that-need-in-me-i-want-everyone-to-love-me-but-i-m-embarrassed/) [Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/) > [Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player would could have done what he (Jackie Robinson) did. To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pee-wee-reese/thinking-about-the-things-that-happened-i-don-t-know-any-other-ball/) [Pee Wee Reese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pee-wee-reese/) > [I wanted to remember in order to be able to return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-wanted-to-remember-in-order-to-be-able-to-return/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [Government schools, with your tax money, now discourage the teaching of multiplication tables by rote memorization but teach reading by the 'look-and-say' method which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-perry/government-schools-with-your-tax-money-now-discourage-the-teaching-of/) [Greg Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-perry/) > [I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. 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