"It’s a cautionary question..."

Sent by reader Will K.

By the way, have you read Fahrenheit 451?

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This introduction excerpt, written in April of 2013 by Neil Gaiman, is for the 1953 book "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury..

This is a book of warning. It is a reminder that what we have is valuable, and that sometimes we take what we value for granted. There are three phrases that make possible the world of writing about the world of not-yet (you can call it science fiction or speculative fiction; you can call it anything you wish) and they are simple phrases: What if . . . ? If only . . . If this goes on . . . “What if . . . ?” gives us change, a departure from our lives. (What if aliens landed tomorrow and gave us everything we wanted, but at a price?) “If only . . .” lets us explore the glories and dangers of tomorrow. (If only dogs could talk. If only I were invisible.) “If this goes on . . .” is the most predictive of the three, although it doesn’t try to predict an actual future with all its messy confusion. Instead, “If this goes on . . .” fiction takes an element of life today, something clear and obvious and normally something troubling, and asks what would happen if that thing, that one thing, became bigger, became all-pervasive, changed the way we thought and behaved. (If this goes on, all communication everywhere will be through text messages or computers, and direct speech between two people, without a machine, will be outlawed.) It’s a cautionary question, and it lets us explore cautionary worlds.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451: A Novel (p. 2). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.