This orthogonal to the point of the sequence, but the plausiblity of the “science” is not why X-Men is considered science fiction rather than fantasy. (I realize that the linked essay had not been written when this sequence was originally composed; I think that Brin is offering an unusually concise and eloquent explanation of a difference that was already understood.)
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.
This orthogonal to the point of the sequence, but the plausiblity of the “science” is not why X-Men is considered science fiction rather than fantasy. (I realize that the linked essay had not been written when this sequence was originally composed; I think that Brin is offering an unusually concise and eloquent explanation of a difference that was already understood.)
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.