All Time Favorites:

+ The Expanse series (books) by James SA Corey

Human insights (political and emotional) + realistic physics + unrealistic alien tech = a space opera that actually becomes a society simulator. Finds the impulse response of (interplanetary) humanity.

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+ The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

The problem is not how you build; it's what you build that counts.

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+  The Last Question and Profession by Isaac Asimov 

The Last Question is literally the last question of entropy; Profession lays an argument for what higher education is meant to be.

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+  The Wayfarer Series by Becky Chambers

Strong embodiment of heterotopias - the universe and the characters are both absolutely perfect yet still flawed, but they'll survive, grow and figure it out. If the Expanse is the impulse response, this is the steady state error, or definitely overdamped.

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+  Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

Definitely out of date and many of its central premises are flawed; but there's an argument for what it means to commit to society and to the greater good.

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+  The Three-Body Problem, The Wandering Earth, and Mountain by Liu Cixin

What is the most no-win, darkest situation, and how do we respond? So many different ways to act, with a balance of the most self-interested of actions in the service of the most noble and deepest goals. Throw in a story about the why and what of exploration.

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+  The Divine Cities series by Robert Jackson Bennett

Each one is somehow about our relationship with other people, despite never clearly. What's the sacrifice that we go to, and what are the goals? What is the mission of an occupier, and can it be good?

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+  The Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman

What do you do with your potential? How do you use it wisely, and understand your consequences? What is the process of growing up and maturing?

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+  How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

The scientific explanation of how to tell a story, while trying to figure out Asian-American identity.

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+  Inception (film)

The best heist movie, along with Ocean's 11.

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