I think this is kind of misunderstanding scifi a bit. You're right it was designed to be entertaining, but the kernel of it is that they take some existing tren

I think this is kind of misunderstanding scifi a bit. You're right it was designed to be entertaining, but the kernel of it is that they take some existing trend and extrapolate it into the future. Do that enough times, and some of the stories will start to be meaningful looking backwards and the people who made those predictions still deserve credit even if they weren't entirely useful in the forward direction.