I don’t think the distinction is nearly so clear as Brin makes it out to be. By his definition, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality would fall under sci fi rather than fantasy, but if you stocked it at a library that separated the two, this would probably confuse more people rather than less.
Science fiction and fantasy are just clusters of frequently associated tropes in the space of speculative fiction. I don’t see why we should expect there to be a clear separation between them.
I don’t think the distinction is nearly so clear as Brin makes it out to be. By his definition, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality would fall under sci fi rather than fantasy, but if you stocked it at a library that separated the two, this would probably confuse more people rather than less.
Science fiction and fantasy are just clusters of frequently associated tropes in the space of speculative fiction. I don’t see why we should expect there to be a clear separation between them.