Bruce Sterling discusses Wonder Fiction and Design (PDF) in Innovation magazine
"Why do I—a science fiction writer—spend more and more time with designers? What does science fiction have in common with industrial design? As it turns out, quite a lot. In the science fiction genre, we have a signature product that we call the “sense of wonder.” This is what we are supposed to supply eager consumers: works of wonderment. Amazing stories, fantastic stories, mind-blowing stories."
You may recall Bruce's great musings on the Future of the Object and beyond.