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The difference between it and fantasy is more pretext than form. Sci-fi began (with Shelley's Frankenstein) near the end of the Enlightenment as a way to explore what were new issues of the time, like what do we do now that we have no gods to protect us or rule us? Are we now the gods? I define sci-fi as fiction that asks the question: What is the role of humans in a universe without gods or magic? Seen that way, even implausible plot devices (like Herbert's melange) fit into the genre because they are purely secular, not the product of magic or divine influence, and that places all the power and responsibility on the human or human-like players.