This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff

That's a good way of putting it. I think that hits on the fundamental disconnect between SF and traditional literary fiction - SF tends to be more focused on big macro-level concepts rather than the minutia of people's lives. And that's not necessarily a bad thing! For instance, Iain Banks's Culture series is total grand-scale SF, but he does it well and it's enjoyable. But when those big concepts aren't conveyed compellingly, you're left with a novel without strong characters OR a strong plot, and that's why I think "genre" fiction has such a negative connotation. (most of these observations apply to the other two big "genre", uh, genres, fantasy and horror).

I dunno. I have Complex Opinions on SF because I love it and I think it gets needlessly shat upon by a lot of literary critics (see: just about any college writing class), but at the same time, it can definitely have its flaws, and I think as I've gotten older I've started to see them more.

EDIT: lol, and Schazer posts about the Culture series just before I post this. good example of how SF can be so divisive I guess!