Writing Speculative Fiction: Part VI--In Conclusion

I'm going to do a series of posts on speculative fiction for a class I'll be teaching at an upcoming writing conference. Hope you all will find some value here!
I admit I'm biased, but I think speculative fiction is one of the funnest genres to write in. It allows you to stretch your imagination to the limits. To dream up every possibility and even every impossibility. Speculative fiction can take to the ends of the universe and back again, or to places that exist only in our dreams. You can ride a dragon, travel through a black hole or talk to a centaur. It's a versatile genre too. You can write romances, mysteries, thrillers, adventures, historicals and more that all fall under the speculative fiction umbrella.

Perhaps the reason that I love spec-fic so much is that it gives us a chance to view the human condition through a completely different lens, and in reading about beings and places entirely different from our own, we gain insight into who we are and what it means to be human. So I say, "Long live speculative fiction!"

What are your feelings about speculative fiction? Why do you love it?
Read: Part I--What is Speculative Fiction
Read Part II--Difference Between Science Fiction and Fantasy
Read Part III--Rules for Writing Speculative Fiction
Read Part IV--Exposition 
Read Part V--World Building