I found this through Tooze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z47KDaBRNe8
Here KSR describes the mechanism that makes sci-fi political:
[In a science fiction novel] there is some change being described . . . when you describe it as already here with a certain amount of plausibility in terms of the written details about it then it can be persuasive that yes, this really is coming, it’s lets say inevitable, but this is a fictional ethics state and indeed science fiction readers will say ‘oh my gosh, I finished that novel it seems like the future will be like that.’
Then you read another one and you say ‘Oh, but wait, no, it will be like this’.
And what happens is there’s a habit of mind when you read enough science fiction. You say the future could be many different things quite plausibly from now. And now we need to shape it to the direction that we want. And so this is the political power of science fiction as a mental activity, as a co-creation between writers and readers. The science fiction community is in some sense better prepared for whatever happens, no matter what it is, than the general populace that doesn’t read science fiction.
And then some interesting, though not quite so clear, commentary on science itself. I’m not sure I agree that the ‘ultimate battle is between science and capitalism.’
Enjoy!