sentences:  Minkel lambasted Maddox and pointed to author Neal Stephenson's cutting-edge work as proof to the contrary, venturing that "science fiction writers can "dictate" the future if they have the vim and vision".One of Maddox's most recent "Discover" essays, "The James Watson Affair", examines comments made by James Watson in an article in London's "Sunday Times" which led to Watson's suspension at the laboratory where he worked and his eventual retirement, and is skeptical of critics who found Watson's comment about black employees "not that big a deal" yet charged him with racism for his proposition on black African intelligence; in conclusion, Maddox derides the views held by several critics, stating that in comparison to Watson's statements, "the most ignorant and hurtful idea of all, of course, is that the entire topic of race and genes and intelligence is off-limits to all right-thinking, compassionate people, just on principle", which pejoratively assumes "that some races "are" innately and immutably much less intelligent than others".Maddox's essay, although published in the March 2008 printed edition of "Discover", has not been published online.