What is the purpose of this excerpt from a speech about science fiction?
When it comes to literature, most people do not take science fiction seriously. They equate science fiction with fantastical stories about aliens, zombies, time travel, or other futuristic inventions. This dismissal is a serious mistake. Science fiction is actually a fertile breeding ground for hypotheses, or educated guesses, about the future of mankind.
If this claim sounds a little grandiose, you should consider the fact that almost a hundred years before the first astronauts landed on the moon, a writer named Jules Verne described a lunar voyage and actually got a lot of the scientific details right. In addition, roughly 30 years before the invention of the atom bomb, author H. G. Wells' The World Set Free described how atomic power could be harnessed to create an explosive device. Additionally, long before DNA testing was invented, Arthur C. Clarke wrote about how DNA studies would allow doctors to establish who the father of a child was. What do all of these writers have in common? They are all science-fiction writers!

A.
to entertain the audience by describing the plots of science fiction novels
B.
to persuade the audience to add science fiction novels to their reading lists
C.
to inform the audience about the scientific knowledge of science-fiction writers
D.
to convince the audience that science fiction is the highest-quality form of fiction